haec  studia  adulescentiam  alnnt,  seneduteni 

obledayit,  secundas  res  orjiant,  adversis  perfugium 
ac  solacinyn  praebent,  deledant  doitii,  non  ivi- 
pedinnt  foris,  pernodant  nobiscum,  peregrinantur, 
rusticantur. — Cic. ,  Pro  Arch.,  i6. 


Private  Library  of 

ED.    H.   HEFFNER 


No.- 


LIBRARY 


^AN 


J;"^ftNiA 


OIEGO 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/artoftranslatingOOtolmiala 


THE 


ART  OF  TRANSLATING 

WITH  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO 

Cauer's  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens 


BY 

HERBERT  GUSHING  TOLMAN,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF   GREEK  IN  VANOBRBILT  UNIVERSITY 


ov  woW  dX\a  troXv 


BENJ.  H.   SANBORN  &  CO. 

BOSTON,  U.  S.  A. 

1901 


COPTKIGHT,  1900,  BT 

BENJ.  H.  SANBORN  &  CO. 


TO 

My  Sister 
ANNA  TOLMAN 

IN  TOKEN   OF  HER   MANY  YEARS'    WORK 
IN  THE 

French  Language  and  Literature 


PREFACE. 


I  have  read  no  book  during  my  eight  years  of  teaching  which 
has  been  so  suggestive  as  Cauer's  "Die  Kunst  des  Uehersetz- 
ens."  That  work  has  proved  itself  to  me  what  the  author 
entitles  it^  '■'■Bin  Hilfbuch  fur  den  lateinischen  und  griechischen 
Unterricht.''^  I  have  found  the  principles  therein  laid  down  not 
only  sound  theoretically,  but  of  practical  benefit  in  the  teaching 
of  the  classics.  These  same  principles  we  ought,  I  believe,  to 
extend  and  apply  in  the  translation  of  any  language,  ancient 
or  modem. 

Our  teaching  of  a  foreign  tongue  is  apt  to  be  too  mechanical. 
The  student  must  be  made  to  feel  that  the  language  he  is  study- 
ing is  not  something  strange  and  mysterious,  but  natural  and 
simple.  This  he  cannot  do  until  he  changes  his  position  and 
looks  at  the  unfolding  of  the  thought  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  original.  It  is  then,  and  not  till  then,  that  he  really  reaches 
the  heart  of  his  Latin  or  Greek,  his  French  or  German.  It  is 
then  that  he  is  prepared  to  enter  upon  what  is  as  much  an  art 
as  that  of  the  sculptor,  of  the  painter,  of  the  designer  ;  I  mean 
the  art  of  reproducing  into  living  English  his  appreciation  of 
all  that  the  original  has  brought  to  him. 

This  little  book  is  not  based  on  that  of  Cauer  in  the  sense 
that  it  is  a  translation  or  an  adaptation  of  his  work.  I  alone  am 
responsible  for  many  of  the  views  herein  expressed.  Whatever 
I  have  translated  from  the  German  is  indicated  by  quotation 
marks.    Wherever  an  idea  of  Cauer's  has  been  put  in  my  own 


VL  PEEFACB. 

language,  his  name  follows  within  parentheses,  or  reference  is 
given  in  a  footnote.  Due  recognition  has  been  made  of  other 
writings.  Especially  I  would  thank  Professors  W.  G.  Hale, 
H.  C.  G.  von  Jagemann,  G.  H.  McKnight,  and  E.  H.  Babbitt, 
for  their  cordial  permission  to  quote  the  passages  given.  In 
regard  to  Professor  Hale  I  feel  that  it  is  not  out  of  place  in 
the  preface  of  a  book  of  this  kind  to  state  that  to  him  more 
than  to  any  other  American  scholar  we  owe  the  practical 
method  of  reading  Latin  now  so  generally  adopted.  The  ex- 
tracts from  Tyrrell,  Lowell,  and  Bayard  Taylor  I  have  used  by 
special  arrangement  with  and  permission  of  Houghton,  Mifflin 
&  Company,  the  authorized  publishers  of  Tyrrell's  "  Latin 
Poetry,"  the  writings  of  James  Kussell  Lowell,  and  Bayard 
Taylor's  translation  of  'Taust."  Several  excellent  translations 
of  the  late  Professor  Lane  have  been  cited  with  the  sanction 
of  his  son,  Mr.  G.  M.  Lane.  I  wish  also  to  express  my  grati- 
tude to  my  dear  friends  Dr.  C.  E.  Little  and  Mr.  Edwin  Wiley 
for  their  careful  criticism  of  my  manuscript.  My  assistant, 
Dr.  Benjamin  M.  Drake,  has  given  valuable  help  in  the  read- 
ing of  the  proof. 

The  subject  is  such  a  broad  one  that  I  feel  I  have  merely 
touched  upon  it  here  and  there,  but  my  hope  is  that  these 
principles  will  be  found  at  least  suggestive  in  the  reading  and 
teaching  of  foreign  languages. 

Herbfbt  Gushing  Tolman. 

Vandebbilt  TJnivebsitt, 
November,  1900. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

Reading  the  Original 9 

The  Wobk  of  the  Tbanslator        ....  22 

tbansiiation  not  explanation 35 

The  Choice  of  Words 88 

Primitive  Signification 44 

Synonyms ^'^ 

Etymology 52 

The  Order  of  Words 55 

Figures  of  Speech "^0 

The  Greek  Particles "76 


THE  ART  OF  TRANSLATING. 


READING  THE  ORIGINAL. 

In  reading  a  foreign  tongue  one  must  not  tnink  of 
translation :  reading  a  language  is  one  thing,  translat- 
ing it  is  another.  At  the  very  outset  we  must  im- 
merse ourselves  in  the  current  of  the  native  thought 
and  feeling.  Vast  the  gulf  between  translation  and 
its  original.  "The  stream  that  escapes  from  the 
waste  pipe  of  a  fountain  gives  no  notion  of  the  rise 
and  fall  and  swirl  and  spray  and  rainbow  glitter  of 
the  volume  of  water  that  rejoices  to  return  the 
sportive  touch  of  the  sunlight."  ^ 

To  him  alone  who  has  entered  the  living  heart  of 
the  French  come  the  pathos  and  the  power  of  Victor 
Hugo's  famous  lines ;  — 

O  ma  pauvre  opprimee ! 
Ma  Blanche !  men  bonheur !  ma  fille  bien-aim^e ! 
Lorsqu'elle  etait  enfant,  je  la  tenais  ainsi. 
Elle  dormait  sur  moi,  tout  comme  la  voici ! 
Quand  elle  reveillait,  si  vous  saviez  quel  ange ! 
Je  ne  lui  semblais  pas  quelque  chose  d'6trange, 
*  Gildersleeve,  Introductory  Essay  to  Pindar. 


10  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

Elle  me  souriait  avec  ses  yeux  divins, 
Et  moi  je  lui  baisais  ses  deux  petites  mains ! 
Pauvre  agneau ! — Morte!  oh  non!  elle  dort  et  repose. 
Tout  a  I'heure,  messieurs,  c'etait  bien  autre  chose, 
Elle  s'est  cependant  reveillee.  —  Oh  !  j'attend. 
Vous  I'allez  voir  rouvrir  ses  yeux  dans  un  instant ! 
Vous  voyez  maintenant,  messieurs,  que  je  raisonne, 
Je  suis  tranquille  et  doux,  je  n' offense  personne ; 
Puisque  je  ne  fait  rien  de  ce  qu'on  me  defend, 
On  pent  bien  me  laisser  regarder  mon  enfant. 
J'ai  deja  rechauffe  ses  mains  entre  les  miennes ; 
Voyez,  touchez  les  done  un  peu !  .  .  . 

—  Le  Hoi  g'amuse,  Act  V]  Scene  5. 

As  one  whose  eye  is  trained  to  receive  a  finer 
vision  of  the  landscape  detects  delicacies  of  shade 
and  outline  on  a  great  master's  canvas,  so  the  more 
the  reader  feels  the  heart  throb  of  the  original,  the 
more  he  sees  the  skill  of  the  poet  translator  who  has 
rendered  — 

My  poor  down-trodden  child  I 
My  Blanche,  my  joy,  my  well-beloved  one ! 
When  she  was  but  a  child,  I  held  her  thus ; 
She  slept  upon  my  breast,  even  as  you  see. 
And  when  she  woke  —  oh,  could  you  know  the  angel 
That  looking  from  her  eyes,  saw  me  nor  strange 
Nor  terrible,  but  smiled  with  heavenlike  eyes 
The  while  I  kissed  those  poor  small  childish  hands ! 
Poor  lamb !    Dead  ?     Nay,  she  sleeps  and  takes  her  rest. 
You  will  see  soon,  gentles,  it  is  naught,  't  is  naught : 


BEADING   THE   ORIGINAL.  11 

Even  now  she  wakes  to  life  —  oh !  I  am  watching  — 
You  will  see  her  ope  her  eyes  —  one  moment  yet ! 
She  will  ope  her  eyes  —  you  see  my  sense  is  clear  — 
I  brave  no  man  —  I  am  calm,  I  pray  you  see ! 
And  seeing  I  have  no  will  but  to  obey  you, 
I  pray  you  let  me  look  upon  my  child. 
No  furrow  on  her  brow,  no  out- worn  grief : 
Already  I  have  warmed  her  hands  in  mine. 
Come,  feel  them  now! 

It  is  because  the  spirit  of  Tennyson  is  native  to  us 
that  we  appreciate  how  admirably  Strodtmann  has 
reproduced  the  familiar  stanza  :  — 

The  splendor  falls  on  castle  walls 

And  snowy  summits  old  in  story ; 
The  long  light  shakes  across  the  lakes 

And  the  wild  cataract  leaps  in  glory. 
Blow,  bugle,  blow ;  set  the  wild  echoes  flying. 
Blow,  bugle ;  —  answer  echoes,  dying,  dying,  dying. 

Es  fallt  der  Strahl  auf  Burg  und  Thai 

Und  schneeige  Gipfel,  reich  an  Sagen ; 
Viel'  Lichter  wehn  auf  blauen  Seen, 

Bergab  die  Wassersttirze  jagen! 
Bias,  Htifthorn,  bias,  in  Wiederhall  erschallend 
Bias,  Horn  —  Antwortet,  Echos,  hallend,  hallend,  hallend. 

And  so  we  see  that  we  are  compelled  to  grasp  the 
idea  from  the  standpoint  of  the  original,  —  a  stand- 
point which  may  be,  and  often  is,  entirely  different 
from  or  directly  opposed  to  that  of  the  English.     Let 


12  THE  ART  OF  TRANSLATING. 

US  suppose  the  student  is  reading  Greek  and  meets 
the  simple  Greek  idiom  /caXw?  ex^iv.  In  nine  cases 
out  of  ten  he  is  first  taught  the  idiomatic  English 
translation  and  then  endeavors  to  work  backward 
to  the  standpoint  of  the  Greek.  This  is  a  sad  case 
of  hysteron-^roteroji.  He  is  looking  at  the  construc- 
tion with  English  eyes,  and  it  appears  as  foreign  to 
him  as  if  he  were  in  a  strange  country ;  he  does 
not  and  cannot  feel  the  spirit  of  the  Greek,  since 
instinctively  there  steals  into  his  mind  the  feeling 
that  Ka\.oi<i  e^ety  by  some  mysterious  process  be- 
comes the  equivalent  of  Ka\o<i  elvai.  This  is  all 
wrong.  He  should  be  led  to  appreciate  fully  the 
Greek  point  of  view  before  even  attempting  to  ren- 
der the  phrase  into  the  idiom  of  his  own  language. 

Again,  one  ought  to  associate  the  words  of  a  for- 
eign language  with  the  objects  themselves,  of  which 
words  are  but  vocal  pictures.  Take  German,  for 
instance :  when  the  reader  meets  the  word  Baum 
there  should  recur  at  once  to  his  mind  the  object 
itself,  and  not  the  English  word  tree  ;  I  mean  by  this 
that  the  mental  process  should  be,  not  Baum,  tree, 
the  object,  but  Baum,  the  object  and  then  the  English 
tree.  This  last  stage  ought  only  to  be  reached  when 
the  reader  assumes  the  role  of  a  translator.  While 
he  is  merely  reading  German,  the  English  tree  should 
not  intrude  into  the  thought. 

There  is  some  truth  in  Dr.  Jagemann's  words : 
"  It  is  not  necessary  to  translate  Iphigenie  into  Eng- 


READING   THE   ORIGINAL.  13 

lish  in  order  to  obtain  the  greatest  possible  amount 
of  mental  discipline  which  Goethe's  wonderful  work 
can  yield.  The  mental  process  of  translation  con- 
sists of  two  parts :  first,  we  must  grasp  the  thought 
of  the  author ;  second,  we  must  express  this  thought 
in  the  language  into  which  we  are  translating.  Now, 
in  making  the  translation  from  German  into  English, 
only  the  first  part  of  this  mental  process  has  any 
effect  upon  the  student's  knowledge  of  German; 
consequently,  for  the  study  of  German  we  may  be 
content  if  the  student  grasps  the  author's  ideas,  and 
this  he  can  do  without  translating."  i 

I  am  very  sure,  to  generalize  from  my  own  experi- 
ence, that  every  American  who  has  studied  at  the 
German  universities  has  tried  at  first  to  take  in 
English  the  notes  of  his  professor,  and  desperately 
failed.  It  is  only  when  he  forgets  English  and 
grasps  the  idea  in  German  itself  that  he  can  carry 
away  any  satisfactory  conception  of  what  he  has 
heard.  The  reason  of  this  is  plain  enough.  It  is 
that  the  mind  has  not  to  go  through  any  intervening 
stage  before  gathering  the  idea  from  the  spoken 
language. 

A  student  spends  six  years  in  the  study  of  Latin, 
let  us  say,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  has  to  worm 
his  way  painfully  through  a  Latin  sentence,  often 
with   slavish  dependence    on  a   dictionary.     Or   he 

1  Transactions  of  Modem  Language  Association,  Yol.  I,  pp.  225, 
226. 


14  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

devotes  five  years  to  French  and  does  not  acquire 
such  freedom  in  the  spoken  language  as  a  child  gains 
during  a  six  months'  stay  in  Paris  in  constant 
association  with  French  playmates.  When  this 
state  of  things  exists  there  must  be  something  wrong 
with  our  method  of  instruction.  Where  is  the 
fault?  Undoubtedly,  it  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
student  is  made  to  feel  that  the  language  he  is  study- 
ing is  foreign  to  his  way  of  thinking.  Something 
comes  between  him  and  the  text  which  he  is  read- 
ing. If  it  be  Latin,  for  example,  he  unfortunately 
has  the  misconception  that  he  must  strain  and  twist 
his  English  to  fit  the  Latin  form  of  expression. 
There  will  never  be  a  remedy  for  this  until  the  pupil 
is  taught  to  think  in  Latin,  —  until  he  is  brought  to 
feel  that  the  Latin  sentence  is  natural,  not  mysteri- 
ous. It  is  the  spirit  of  the  original  that  he  must 
get  —  this  is  the  life  of  the  sentence ;  and  until  he 
breathes  this  spirit,  Latin  or  any  other  language  will 
be  in  too  true  a  sense  a  dead  language. 

Professor  Hale  put  it  strongly  and  concisely  when 
he  said :  "  Reading  the  original  is  the  one  method  that 
should  everywhere  be  rigorously  used  from  the  day 
of  the  first  lesson  to  the  last  piece  of  Latin  that  the 
college  graduate  reads  to  solace  his  old  age.  Only^ 
the  process  which  at  first  is  at  every  point  conscious 
and  slow^  as  it  was  not  with  the  Romans,  becomes  in 
Latin  of  ordinary  difficulty  a  process  wholly  unconscious 
and  very  rapid,  precisely  as  it  was  with  the  Romans. 


BEADING  THE   ORIGINAL.  15 

.  .  .  We  must  for  some  time  think  out,  at  every 
point,  as  the  sentence  progresses  (and  that  without 
ever  allowing  ourselves  to  look  ahead),  all  those  con- 
veyings  of  meaning,  be  they  choice  of  words,  or  choice 
of  order,  or  choice  of  case,  or  choice  of  mode,  or 
choice  of  tense,  or  whatever  else  which  at  that  point 
suffice  for  the  Roman  mind.  And,  when  these  indi- 
cations— which  after  all  are  not  so  many  in  num- 
ber —  have  come  to  be  so  familiar  to  us  that  most  of 
them  are  ready  to  flash  before  the  mind  without  our 
deliberately  summoning  them,  we  shall  be  very  near 
the  point  at  which,  in  Latin  graded  to  our  growing 
powers,  we  shall  interpret  indications  unconsciously. 
And  the  moment  we  do  that  we  shall  be  reading 
Latin  by  the  Roman's  own  method."  ^ 

Read  the  original,  think  in  the  original,  —  that  is 
the  whole  story.  The  advice  of  a  famous  German 
professor  for  the  acquisition  of  a  vocabulary  applies 
here  equally  well :  "iesew,  viel  lesen,  sehr  viel  lesen, 
sehr  viel  viel  lesen." 

It  is  only  by  reading  the  foreign  tongue  that  we 
really  enter,  as  we  must,  its  life  and  strength.  How 
widely  different  its  spirit  often  is  from  that  of  our 
own  has  been  well  observed  in  De  Quincey's  splendid 
differentiation  of  Greek  and  English  tragedy:  "To 
my  own  feeling  the  different  principle  of  passion 
which  governs  the  Grecian  conception  of  tragedy  as 
compared  with  the  English,  is  best  conveyed  by  say- 

^The  Art  of  Beading  Latia,  pp.  15-17. 


16  THE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

ing  that  the  Grecian  is  a  breathing  from  the  world  of 
sculpture,  the  English  a  breathing  from  the  world  of 
painting.  What  we  read  in  sculpture  is  not  abso- 
lutely death,  but  still  less  is  it  the  fullness  of  life.  .  .  . 
It  affects  us  profoundly,  but  not  by  agitation.  Now, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  breatliing  life  —  life  kindling, 
trembling,  palpitating  —  that  life  which  speaks  to  us 
in  painting,  this  is  also  the  life  that  speaks  to  us  in 
English  tragedy.  Into  an  Enghsh  tragedy  even  fes- 
tivals of  joy  may  enter ;  marriages  and  baptisms,  or 
commemorations  of  national  trophies;  which,  or 
anything  like  which,  is  incompatible  with  the  very 
being  of  the  Greek.  In  that  tragedy  what  uni- 
formity of  gloom;  in  the  English  what  hght  alter- 
nating with  the  depths  of  darkness  I  The  Greek, 
how  mournful ;  the  English,  how  tumultuous  !  Even 
the  catastrophes  how  different  I  In  the  Greek  we 
feel  a  breathless  waiting  for  a  doom  that  cannot  be 
evaded ;  a  waiting,  as  it  were,  for  the  last  shock  of 
an  earthquake,  or  the  inexorable  rising  of  a  deluge ; 
in  the  English  it  is  like  a  midnight  of  shipwreck, 
from  which  up  to  the  last  and  till  the  final  ruin 
comes,  there  still  survives  a  sort  of  hope  that  clings 
to  human  energies." 

But  De  Quincey's  words  give  us  only  one  point  of 
view.  While  it  is  true  that  we  have  to  transport  our 
sentiments  and  feelings  to  what  is  distinctly  foreign, 
and  to  immerse  ourselves,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  life 
and  thoughts  of  other  lands  and  peoples  in  order  to 


BEADING   THE   OBIGINAL.  17 

imbibe  their  spirit,  yet  the  great  lessons  of  mankind 
are  the  same  for  all  ages,  because  the  human  heart 
and  human  life  must  always  wrestle  with  the  prob- 
lems of  duty  and  trial.  How  admirably  is  this 
brought  out  by  Symonds  in  his  feeling  comments  on 
the  matchless  choric  odes  of  ^schylus'  "Agamem- 
non " :  "  To  read  the  Greek  aright  in  this  wonderful 
lyric,  so  concentrated  in  its  imagery,  and  so  direct  in 
its  conveyance  of  the  very  soul  of  passion,  is  no 
light  task ;  but  far  more  difficult  it  is  to  render  it 
into  another  language.  Yet,  even  thus,  we  feel  that 
this  poem  of  defrauded  desire  and  everlasting  fare- 
well, of  vain  outgoings  of  the  spirit  after  vanished 
joy,  is  written  not  merely  for  Menelaus  and  the 
Greeks,  but  for  all  who  stretch  forth  empty  hands  to 
clasp  the  dreams  of  dear  ones,  and  then  turn  away, 
face-downward  on  the  piUow,  from  the  dawn,  to 
weep  or  strain  hot  eyes  that  shed  no  tears.  Touched 
by  the  same  truth  of  feeling,  which  includes  all 
human  nature  in  its  sympathy,  is  the  lament,  shortly 
after  uttered  by  the  Chorus,  for  the  numberless  fair 
men  who  died  before  Troy  town.  Ares,  the  grim 
gold-exchanger,  who  barters  the  bodies  of  men,  sends 
home  a  little  dust  shut  up  within  a  narrow  urn,  and 
wife  and  father  water  this  with  tears,  and  cry,  — 
Behold,  he  perished  nobly  in  a  far  land,  fighting  for 
a  woman,  another's  wife.  And  others  there  are  who 
come  not  even  thus  again  to  their  old  home ;  but 
barrows  on  Troy  plain  enclose  their  young  flesh,  and 


18  THE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

an  alien  soil  is  their  sepnlcher.  This  picture  of 
beautiful  dead  men,  warriors  and  horsemen,  in  the 
prime  of  manhood,  lying  stark  and  cold,  with  the 
dishonor  of  the  grave  upon  their  comely  hair,  and 
with  the  bruises  of  the  battle  on  limbs  made  for 
love,  is  not  meant  merely  for  Achaians,  but  for  all  — 
for  us,  perchance,  whose  dearest  moulder  on  Crimean 
shores  or  Indian  plains,  for  whom  the  glorious  faces 
shine  no  more ;  but  at  best  some  tokens,  locks  of 
hair,  or  books,  or  letters,  come  to  stay  our  hunger 
unassuaged.  How  truly  and  how  faithfully  the 
Greek  poet  sang  for  all  ages,  and  for  all  manner  of 
men,  may  be  seen  by  comparing  the  strophes  of  this 
Chorus  with  the  last  rhapsody  but  one  of  the  chants 
outpoured  in  America  by  Walt  Whitman,  to  com- 
memorate the  events  of  the  great  war.  The  pathos 
which  unites  these  poets,  otherwise  so  different  in 
aim  and  sentiment,  is  deep  as  nature,  real  as  life ; 
but  from  this  common  root  of  feeling  springs  in  the 
one  verse  a  spotless  lily  of  pure  Hellenic  form,  in 
the  other  a  mystical  thick  growth  of  fancy,  where 
thoughts  brood  and  nestle  amid  tufted  branches ;  for 
the  powers  of  classic  and  of  modern  singers  upon 
the  same  substance  of  humanity  are  diverse."  ^ 

Translation  is  like  the  art  of  painting.     No  artist 

feels  ready  to  paint  until  he  knows  what  he  is  going 

to  paint.     He  does  not  paint  a  bush  and  then  a  tree 

and  then  a  stone  as  they  come  along,  but  first  of  all 

1  The  Greek  Poets,  Vol.  I,  pp.  425,  426. 


READING   THE   ORIGINAL.  19 

he  gets  a  grand  vision  of  the  landscape,  he  lets  it 
sink  into  his  soul,  and  then  he  is  ready  to  begin  his 
painting.  Precisely  so  with  the  art  of  the  transla- 
tor. He  should  never  attempt  to  translate  until  the 
idea  of  the  original  is  clearly  before  his  mind.  How 
many  jump  at  a  Greek  sentence  in  the  following 
way  :  "  rrjvh^  this  one  ;  'opa<i,  you  see  ;  Bd/xapra,  wife; 
a-'qv,  thy.''^  To  use  our  figure  again,  this  method  of 
translating  is  like  painting  bit  by  bit,  without  the 
extended  vision.  Get  first  the  Greek  idea,  regardless 
of  corresponding  English  words;  then  when  called 
upon  to  translate,  reproduce  the  Greek  thought  in  an 
English  sentence  which  will  conserve  the  emphasis; 
for  example,  "In  her  you  behold  your  wife."  Morris 
may  render  the  words  of  '■'■Ast  ego  quae  divum  incedo 
regina  "  (Vergil,  ^En.  i,  46),  "  I  who  go  for  the  queen 
of  the  gods,"  but  Thornhill  gives  us  the  spirit  in  "I 
who  queen  it  through  these  courts  of  heaven." 

As  E.  H.  Babbitt  remarks  in  his  article  on  "  Mental 
Discipline  of  Modern  Languages  "  :  "  Suppose  that 
the  pupil  has  a  clear  understanding  of  a  French  sen- 
tence :  his  work  is  only  half  done ;  he  has  then  to 
make  English  of  it.  Here  the  difficulty  is  that  the 
pupil  will  render  words  without  much  regard  to 
their  sense  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  whole. 
.  .  .  The  aim  should  be  to  get  a  clear  conception  of 
what  the  author  means,  and  then  bearing  in  mind 
that  nothing  has  often  been  said  in  French  or  Ger- 
man which  cannot  be  said  equally  well  in  English, 


20  THE   ART   OF    TRANSLATING. 

insist  on  having  an  English  rendering  which  ex- 
presses the  idea  correctly,  and  does  no  violence  to 
the  English  idiom." 

The  more  one  enters  into  the  spirit  of  the  language 
he  is  reading,  the  more  he  appreciates  the  responsi- 
bility of  the  translator,  and  realizes  that  many  times 
it  is  impossible  to  bring  over  into  English  the  heart 
of  the  original  construction.  Just  as  the  eye  of  the 
artist,  which  by  training  enters  more  deeply  into  the 
soul  of  nature,  reahzes  more  than  the  inexperienced 
eye  the  difficulty  of  the  task,  and  is  more  keenly 
aware  of  the  powerlessness  of  the  brush  to  portray 
all  that  is  in  the  landscape,  so  the  trained  translator 
appreciates  how  exacting  is  his  art.  Take  Cicero's 
fine  translation  from  the  "  Cresphontes  "  of  Euripides 
and  note  how  Tyrrell  has  delicately  reproduced  the 
same :  — 

Nam  no8  decebat  coetu  celebrantes  domum 
Lugere  ubi  asset  aliquis  in  lucem  editus, 
Humanae  vitae  varia  reputantes  mala ; 
At  qui  labores  morte  finisset  graves 
Hunc  omni  amices  laude  et  laetitia  exsequi. 

—  Tusc.  Disp.,  i,  115. 

When  a  child 's  born,  our  friends  should  throng  our  halls 
And  wail  for  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to ; 
But  when  a  man  has  done  his  long  day's  work 
And  goes  to  his  long  home  to  take  his  rest, 
We  all  with  joy  and  gladness  should  escort  him.^ 
1  Tyrrell,  Latin  Poetry,  p.  19. 


BEADING   THE   ORIGINAL.  21 

"The  task  of  the  translator,"  says  Bayard  Taylor, 
"is  not  simply  mechanical;  he  must  feel,  and  be 
guided  by,  a  secondary  inspiration.  Surrendering 
himself  to  the  full  possession  of  the  spirit  which 
shall  speak  through  him,  he  receives,  also,  a  portion 
of  the  same  creative  spirit."  ^ 

Here  are  four  simple  rules  which,  if  observed,  wiU 
lead,  I  believe,  to  a  deeper  appreciation  of  a  foreign 
tongue :  (1)  Read,  read,  READ  the  original  with- 
out endeavoring  to  translate.  (2)  Cultivate  inde- 
pendence of  the  lexicon.  (3)  Acquire  vocabulary. 
(4)  Cease  to  fear  the  foreign  sentence  as  some- 
thing strange  or  uncanny.  The  test  is  not  what 
one  has  read,  but  the  ability  he  has  acquired  from 
reading  what  he  has,  to  read  more  just  like  it  with 
greater  ease. 

In  one  word,  we  must  think  in  the  original.  That 
is  no  impossible  ideal ;  it  is  the  only  true  goal  of 
language  study.  When  this  is  acquired,  Latin  and 
Greek,  French  and  German,  will  not  be  laid  aside  on 
leaving  the  college  walls,  for  it  is  true  that  what  is 
once  learned  can  never  be  unlearned,  what  is  once 
gotten  can  never  be  forgotten.  Then  the  wish  of 
Goethe  respecting  the  classics  will  be  fulfilled :  "  Moge 
das  Studium  der  griechUchen  und  romischen  lAter- 
atur  immerfort  die  Basis  der  hoheren  Bildung  hlei- 
hen:"^ 

1  Translation  of  Faust,  Preface,  p.  viil. 

2  Sprtiche  in  Prosa. 


22         THE  ART  OF  TRANSLATING. 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  TRANSLATOR. 

Before  the  translator  begins  his  task  he  must  nave 
read  thoroughly  the  sentence  in  the  original  and 
grasped  its  meaning.  Should  he  attempt  translation 
before  this,  he  is  like  the  builder  who  essays  to  build 
a  house  before  knowing  its  plan.  No  architect  allows 
a  single  block  of  stone  to  be  put  in  place  without 
liaving  before  him  the  design  of  the  completed  struc- 
ture. So  if  one  plunges  immediately  into  translating 
the  words  in  the  order  in  which  they  come  without 
knowing  the  idea  of  the  finished  sentence,  he  is  like 
one  who  is  simply  building  blocks,  but  not  erecting 
an  edifice  after  some  great  pattern. 

Remember  that  translation  is  not  rendering  the 
words  of  a  foreign  language  into  English,  but  it  is 
the  metamorphosis  of  the  feeling,  the  life,  the  power, 
the  spirit  of  the  original.  In  other  words,  —  and  I 
put  them  in  italics  for  their  emphasis,  —  translation  is 
arousing  in  the  English  reader  or  hearer  the  identical 
emotions  and  sentiments  that  were  aroused  in  him  who 
read  or  heard  the  setitence  as  his  native  tongue.  Trans- 
lation is  nothing  more  than  this,  and  it  certainly  is 
nothing  less.  As  Wilamowitz  puts  it :  "  The  transla- 
tor's object  must  be  to  construct  a  sentence  which  will 
make  upon  readers  of  to-day  exactly  the  same  im- 


THE   WORK   OF   THE   TEAKSLATOE.  23 

pression  that  was  made  by  the  original  upon  people 
who  were  contemporaries  of  the  author,  awakening 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  same  thoughts  and  senti- 
ments." ^ 

Let  us  illustrate  again  by  the  art  most  nearly  like 
the  art  of  translating,  that  is,  painting.  The  subject 
of  the  painting  may  be  the  war-steed.  The  trained 
hand  portrays  him  with  flashing  eye,  arched  neck, 
expanded  nostrils ;  the  artist  feels  the  martial  spirit 
and  reproduces  it  in  his  work.  The  unskilful  hand 
and  the  untrained  eye  give  us  only  legs  and  head  and 
body.  Perhaps  we  cannot  deny  that  the  object  is  a 
horse,  but  one  thing  surely  is  not  there,  that  is,  the 
spirit  of  the  original.  In  the  same  way  one  trans- 
lator reproduces  the  idea  of  a  sentence  with  aU  the 
feeling,  grandeur,  beauty,  and  delicacy  that  it  con- 
tains ;  the  other  gives  us  in  shabby  garments  the  idea 
which  had  been  clothed  by  the  writer  in  majestic 
robes.  The  strong  line  of  Ennius,  which,  as  Tyrrell 
says,  has  been  compared  to  the  voice  of  an  oracle, 

Moribus  antiquis  stat  Res  Romana  virisque, 
one  may  render,  "  The  Roman  State  stands  on  its 
ancient  customs  and  men  " ;  another,  — 

Broad-based  upon  her  men  and  principles 
Standeth  the  state  of  Rome.     (  Tyrrell.)] 

Perhaps  we  can't  deny  that  both  translations  contain 

the  same  idea;  but  where  the  spirit  in  the  former? 

1  Cf.  Cauer,  Die  Eunst  des  Uebersetzens,  p.  5. 


24  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

It  is  just  as  much,  the  duty  of  the  translator  to  trans- 
fuse the  force  of  the  original  into  his  translation  as 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  artist  to  reproduce  the  grandeur 
of  nature  in  his  picture.  Anything  short  of  tliis  is 
failure.  Anytliing  short  of  this  does  not  constitute 
translation.  But  how  difficult  the  task  !  Note  the 
confessions  of  some  of  the  greatest  translators. 
"All  translation,"  writes  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt  to 
Wilhelm  von  Schlegel,  the  German  translator  of 
Shakespeare,  "  seems  to  me  but  an  attempt  to  accom- 
plish what  is  impossible.  Every  translator  must  run 
shipwreck  on  one  of  two  rocks :  either  at  the  cost  of 
the  style  and  idiom  of  his  own  nation,  he  will  hold 
too  closely  to  the  original,  or  at  the  cost  of  the 
original,  he  will  hold  too  closely  to  the  peculiarity  of 
his  nation.  The  middle  ground  between  these  is  not 
only  hard,  but  absolutely  impossible."  ^ 

It  was  Haupt  who  said  of  translation  that  it  was 
death  to  understanding.  Julius  KeUer,  in  his  "jDie 
Grenzen  der  Uebersetzungskunst,^^  remarks  that  lan- 
guage is  not  a  garment  which  can  be  replaced  by 
another,^  but  it  grows  inseparably  with  the  thought, 
at  once  both  form  and  parcel  of  its  content.^     The 

1  Cf.  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  p.  4. 

2  «<  Art  thou  that  Virgil?'— the  question  of  Dante— must  be  put 
to  every  adventurous  spirit  who  attempts  to  clothe  Virgil  in  the  garb 
of  a  new  tongue."  —  Tyrrell. 

8  Most  aptly  does  Keller  remark :  "  Das  wirklich  Uebersetzbare  an 
der  Dialektdichtung,  d.  h.  der  begriffliche  Kern,  ist  nlchts  welter  als 
der  gerupf  te  Vogel." 


THE  WORK   OF   THE   TRANSLATOR.  25 

translator  must  seek  out  those  elements  in  the  gram- 
matical and  logical  framework  of  speech  which  with 
some  surety  may  be  taken  as  similar,  and  which  may 
serve  as  a  scaffolding  for  translation.  In  spite  of  the 
limitations  of  translation,  he  should  adyance  towards 
an  intelligent  and  expressive  use  of  this  art.^ 

Significant  are  the  following  words  of  Cauer :  "  A 
double  task  confronts  the  translator;  first,  the  lan- 
guage into  which  he  translates  must  be  genuine  living 
(English),  not  an  artificial,  Grecized  or  Latinized 
(English);  else  how  can  it  come  near  to  our  feel- 
ings ?  In  the  second  place,  the  peculiar  style  of  the 
old  poet  or  author  must  be  preserved.  Homer 
must  be  translated  into  different  (English)  from 
Vergil,  Tacitus  from  Cicero.  For  the  first  task  the 
translator  must  have  mastery  over  his  own  language. 
For  the  second,  the  translator  must  breathe  the  spirit 
of  his  author  and  from  that  standpoint  build  his 
(English)  sentence.  From  this  it  is  obvious  that 
there  must  be  a  distinct  art  of  translating  for  each 
separate  author.  One  must  constantly  be  on  guard 
against  too  great  literalness.  The  translation  which 
follows  the  original,  word  by  word,  and  sentence  by 
sentence,  may  give  us  an  idea  of  the  author's  pecu- 
liarities of  form,  but  in  ugly  diagram.  So  Don 
Quixote  (x,  10)  compares  translation  to  the  wrong 
side  of  a  Dutch  tapestry,  where  the  figures  appear,  it 
is  true,  but  are  obscured  by  the  crossing  of  diagonal 
1  CS'  Cauer,  Die  Eunst  des  Uebersetzens,  p.  5. 


26  THE   ART    OF   TRANSLATING. 

threads.^  On  the  other  hand,  if  one  strives  to  do 
away  with  great  and  small  blemishes,  there  is  danger 
that  while  the  picture  may  be  made  more  regular,  it 
will  lose  the  characteristics  of  the  original.  While 
the  translator  cannot  reach  an  absolute  settlement 
between  these  conflicting  demands  upon  his  art,  yet 
should  he  abandon  his  effort  he  becomes  like  the 
painter  who  refuses  to  paint  the  landscape  or  human 
face  because  he  cannot  reproduce  each  individual 
part,  twigs,  leaves,  wrinkles,  hair.  It  is  his  art  that 
can  bring  out  the  living  delineations  which  photog- 
raphy by  pedantic  faithfulness  annihilates."  ^ 

Our  translation  must  be  genuine  English.  Wil- 
helm  Miinch,  in  his  ^^Kunst  des  Uehersetzens  aus  dem 
Franzosischen"  says :  "  There  has  arisen  in  translation 
a  jargon  which  advances  in  an  inflexible  armor  that 
is  peculiarly  foreign."  It  behooves  every  teacher  of 
the  classics  to  banish  this  "  school  jargon."  ^  Certainly 
no  author  more  than  Homer  abounds  in  opportunities 
to  bring  a  translator  down  from  a  stilted  style.     In 


1 "  Alwaies  conceiving  how  pedanticall  and  absurd  an  affectation  it 
is,  in  the  interpretation  of  any  Author,  to  turn  him  word  for  word ; 
when,  according  to  Horace  and  other  best  lawgivers  to  translators,  it 
is  the  part  of  every  knowing  and  judiciall  interpreter,  not  to  follow  the 
number  and  order  of  the  words,  but  the  material  things  themselves, 
and  sentences  to  weigh  diligently ;  and  to  clothe  and  adorn  them  with 
words,  and  such  a  stile  and  form  of  oration  as  are  most  apt  for  the 
language  into  which  they  are  converted."  —  CAopjnan's  Translation 
of  Homer,  1598. 

^Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uehersetzens,  p.  7. 

^  Cf.  Lattmaun,  Der  Schul-Jargon  des  latein.  Unterricbts. 


THE   WORK   OF   THE   TRANSLATOR.  27 

the  majority  of  cases  the  beginner  will  translate,  "  In 
very  truth  you  are  a  base  man,"  whereas  he  ought  to 
say,  if  faithful  to  his  English  idiom,  "  You  are  a  vil- 
lain, no  doubt  about  it"  (<?/".  Cauer).i  How  many 
students  render.  Is  M.  Messala  et  M.  Pisone  consulibusj 
"  He,  in  the  consulship  of  Messala  and  Piso."  They 
forget  that  the  natural  English  order  is,  "  In  the  con- 
sulship of  Messala  and  Piso  he  made  a  conspiracy." 
Often  the  cumbersome  and  prosaic  "  that  one  "  gi'ates 
upon  the  ear  and  mars  what  might  otherwise  be  a 
good  translation.  Render  multum  ille  et  terris  iaeta- 
tu8  et  alto,  "  much  tossed  that  man  by  land  and  sea  " 
(Lane).  Our  English  abstract  idiom  requires  that 
we  translate,  Quid  hostis  virtute  posset  et  quid  nostri 
auderent  periclitabatur,  "  He  was  testing  the  valor  of 
the  enemy  and  the  courage  of  our  men."  2 

The  Greek  a  ^ovXofiai  is  "  my  wishes,"  not  "  those 
things  which  I  msh."  Don't  translate  "Alcestis," 
1036,  ^p6v(p  he  Kol  av  fi  alveaeL^i  taay;,  "  In  time  you 
will  approve  me  perhaps,"  but "  Perhaps  the  time  will 
come  when  you  will  thank  me."  Avoid  rendering 
ov  0-'  ari^oov  "  not  dishonoring  you,"  but  say  "  with 
no  disrespect  to  you."  In  "  Alcestis,"  1095,  iiryvea 
akoytp  TTLtTro^;  ovveic  el  <f)i\o<;,  Heracles  would  hardly 
have  said,  "  I  praise  you  because  you  are  a  faithful 

1  Excellent  examples  are  cited  by  G.  Lejeune-Dirichlet,  Die  Kunst 
des  Uebereetzens  in  die  Muttersprache.  Jahrb.  Philol.  Padag.  150 
(1894),  p.  514  fg. 

2  Hints  for  Translating,  Harper  and  Tolman's  Cssar,  p.  326. 


28  THE   AKT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

friend  to  your  wife,"  but  rather,  "  I  commend  you  for 
being  so  loyal  to  your  wife."  In  Plato's  "  Republic  " 
the  natural  English  equivalent  for  wa-irep  avTb<;  cov  6 
'Kpvcrr]<;  is  not  the  literal  translation  of  the  words,  but 
"he  takes  the  person  of  Chryses  "  (Jowett). 

It  demands  some  patience  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  to  secure  a  natural  and  free  rendering  of 
such  French  expressions  as  :  Je  sais  qu'on  vous  a 
rendu  Justice,  "I  see  that  you  have  met  your  deserts." 
Si  vous  ecrivez  a  Jean  dites-lui  Men  des  choses  de 
ma  part,  "  If  you  write  to  John  remember  me  to 
him."  H  pleut  dSJd  moins  fort,  "  It  does  n't  rain  so 
much  as  it  did."  Nous  avons  arrete  ensemble  que 
vous  deviez  en  agir  amsi  (Merimee's  "  Colomba," 
xiv),  "We  have  decided  to  do  so."  De  quel  cote 
allait-il?  (Merimee's  "Colomba,"  xv),  "What  way 
did  he  take?" 

The  English  translator  of  the  satirists  has  a  lan- 
guage at  his  command  peculiarly  fitted  (especially  in 
its  Saxon  element)  to  lash,  gall,  and  sting  with  a 
vehemency  unsurpassed  and  well-nigh  unrivaled. 
He  should  bring  out  the  sharp  edge  of  satire  with 
such  effect  that  every  word  of  his  vocabulary  should 
cut  as  keenly  and  pierce  as  deep  as  the  original; 
for  example :  — 

Cum  iam  semianimum  laceraret  Flavius  orbem 
XJltimus,  et  calvo  serviret  Roma  Neroni. 

—  Juvenal^  »«,  S7. 


THE   WORK   OF   THE   TRANSLATOR,  29 

When  Flavius,  drunk  with  fury,  tore 

The  prostrate  world  which  bled  at  every  pore, 

And  Rome  beheld  in  body  as  in  mind 

A  bald-pate  Nero  rise  again  to  curse  mankind. 

—  Tyrrdl. 

"Translation,"  says  James  Russell  Lowell,  "com- 
pels us  to  such  a  choosing  and  testing,  to  so  nice 
a  discrimination  of  sound,  propriety,  position,  and 
shade  of  meaning,  that  we  now  first  learn  the  secret 
of  the  words  we  have  been  using  or  misusing  all  our 
lives,  and  are  gradually  made  aware  that  to  set  forth 
even  the  plainest  matter  as  it  should  be  set  forth  is 
not  only  a  very  difficult  thing,  calling  for  thought 
and  practice,  but  an  affair  of  conscience  as  well. 
Translating  teaches  us  as  nothing  else  can,  not  only 
that  there  is  a  best  way,  but  that  it  is  the  only  way. 
Those  who  have  tried  it  know  too  well  how  easy  it 
is  to  grasp  the  verbal  meaning  of  a  sentence  or  of  a 
word.  That  is  the  bird  in  the  hand.  The  real 
meaning,  the  soul  of  it,  that  which  makes  it  literature 
and  not  jargon,  that  is  the  bird  in  the  bush  which 
tantalizes  and  stimulates  with  the  vanishing  glimpses 
we  catch  of  it  as  it  flits  from  one  to  another  lurking 
place. 

"  Et  fugit  ad  salices  et  se  cupit  ante  viderL 

"  It  was  these  shy  allurements  and  provocations  of 
Omar   Khayyam's  Persian  which  led  Fitzgerald   to 


30  THE   ART   OF    TRANSLATING. 

many  a  peerless  phrase  and  made  an  original  poet  of 
him  in  the  very  act  of  translating." 

Since  translation  is  the  reproduction  of  the  spirit 
of  the  original,  we  ought  to  be  faithful  to  the  imper- 
fections as  well  as  to  the  beauties  of  the  author  we 
are  translating.  Rothfuchs  lays  down  the  rule  that  the 
translator  should  not  weed  out  the  weaknesses  of  a 
writer,  for  by  doing  this  he  destroys  his  peculiarities 
of  style.  The  omission  of  videor  or  mihi  videtur  in 
Cicero  annihilates  a  marked  flavor  of  his  diction. 
We  must  leave  him  the  satisfaction  he  felt  in  tossing 
about  upon  the  waves  of  empty  words.^ 

Cauer  suggests  that  the  translator  should  always 
observe  any  broken  syntax  or  obscurity  there  may  be 
in  the  original.  In  Vergil's  ^neid,  iv,  625,  Exoriare 
aliquis  nostris  ex  ossibus  ultor,  how  vivid  the  trans- 
fer from  the  second  to  third  person,  "Arise,  some 
avenger  from  our  bones." 

Don't  make  the  translation  more  elegant  than  the 
original,  for  if  the  original  creeps,  the  translation 
should  not  soar.  That  is  Frazer's  mistake,  if  you 
can  call  it  such,  in  his  monumental  work  on  Pau- 
sanias.  The  style  of  Pausanias  is  broken  and 
slovenly,  but  Frazer  has  rendered  the  Greek  in  a 
stately  English.  This  is  like  an  artist  giving  to  a 
picture  a  higher  coloring  than  that  of  the  scene  be- 
fore him,  or  converting  into  a  grand  edifice  on  his 
copy  what  is  but  a  rude  building  in  the  landscape. 
1  Of.  Cauer,  Die  Eunst  des  Uebersetzens,  p.  78. 


THE   WOKK   OF   THE   TKANSLATOB.  31 

How  effective  is  the  plain,  almost  homely  form  of 
expression,  La  verdad  adelgaza,  y  no  quiebrUj  y 
giempre  anda  sobre  la  mentiray  como  el  azeyte  sobre  el 
aqua  (Don  Quixote,  v,  10),  "  Truth  may  be  thin, 
but  has  no  rent,  and  always  mounts  above  the  lie 
as  oil  above  the  water."  We  can  compare  Jon- 
son's  blunt  diction :  — 

Get  money ;  still  get  money,  boy ; 
No  matter  by  what  means ; 

or  Cowper's  familiar  style :  — 

The  man  that  hails  you  Tom  or  Jack, 
And  proves  by  thumps  upon  your  back 

How  he  esteems  your  merit, 
Is  such  a  friend  that  one  had  need 
Be  very  much  a  friend  indeed 

To  pardon  or  to  bear  it. 

Very  cleverly  has  Rabutin  translated  Martial's  epi- 
gram :  — 

Non  amo  te,  Sabidi,  nee  possum  dicere  quare ; 
Hoc  tantum  possum  dicere ;  non  amo  te. 

Je  ne  vous  aime  pas,  Hylas ; 
Je  n'en  saurais  dire  la  cause ; 
Je  sais  seuleraent  une  chose, 
C'est  que  je  ne  vous  aime  pas. 

Every   school   boy   is   familiar   with    Tom   Brown's 
happy  rendering  of  the  same,  a  rendering  which,  we 


32  THE  ART   OF  TRANSLATING. 

may  say,  has  immortalized  Dr.  Fell,  then  dean  of 
Christ  Church,  Oxford :  — 

I  do  not  love  thee,  Doctor  Fell, 
The  reason  why  I  cannot  tell ; 
But  this  I  'm  sure  I  know  full  well, 
I  do  not  love  thee,  Doctor  Fell. 

The  doggerel  appended  to  five  of  Euripides'dramas  — 

TtoXXai  iiop<pdi  T<b)>  datfioviwv^ 
icoXXa  5'  diXTTTio^  xpaivooai  deoi' 
xai  TO.  doxT)0ivT  ovx  ireXiadTjj 
rwv  if  ddoxTJrwv  Tzopov  -qupe  Beat;' 
ToiovS'  dni^T]  Tode  rrpdyfia  — 

hardly  warrants  a  more    dignified   translation    than 
the  jesting  one  which  Gildersleeve  gives  it :  — 

How  many  the  shapes  of  these  devilish  japes ! 
And  much  that  is  odd 's  fulfilled  by  the  gods ; 
That  comes  not  about  for  which  you  look  out; 
What  you  don't  expect  that  God  does  effect, 
And  such  was  the  course  of  this  story. 

—  Essays  and  Studies,  p.  194- 

When  Sallust,  Livy,  or  Tacitus,  under  influence  of 
vivid  description,  ignores  tense  and  person,  and  uses 
the  so-called  historical  infinitive,  the  translator  should 
endeavor  to  convey  into  English  the  excitement  and 
confusion  of  the  original ;  for  example,  Interea  Cati- 
lina  in  prima  acie   versari^  lahorantihus   succurrere, 


THE   WORK   OF   THE   TRANSLATOR.  33 

(Sallust,  Catiline,  60,  4),  "  Catiline  meantime  bustling 
round  in  the  forefront  of  battle,  helping  them  that 
were  sore  bestead  "  (Lane). 

A  word  of  caution  is  needed  in  reproducing  such 
a  simple  style  as  that  of  Homer.  We  must  not  fail 
to  remember  that  the  Homeric  narrative  was  accen- 
tuated by  voice  and  gesture.  The  spirit  of  the  origi- 
nal can  only  be  preserved  by  an  endeavor  to  convert 
these  into  language.  Cauer  gives  a  good  illustration 
of  this  in  his  remarks  on  the  Homeric  tenses  :  "  In 
relating  past  events  Homer  always  uses  the  same 
tense,  without  considering  in  what  relation  the  in- 
dividual events  stand  to  one  another.  He  only 
shows  their  remoteness  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
relator.  Odysseus  says  to  Nausicaa,  'I  marvel  at 
the  palm  tree,  for  no  such  stalk  had  ever  sprung 
from  earth,'  eVel  oviro)  rolov  avqXvdev  eK  hopv  yairj'; 
(f  167).  If  in  such  cases  we  should  use  simply 
the  (English)  preterite  in  place  of  our  natural 
pluperfect,  we  should  be  like  a  painter  who  inten- 
tionally ignores  the  art  of  perspective  and  represents 
a  landscape  in  the  childishly  helpless  manner  of 
earlier  times,  —  a  manner  which  pictures  trees,  houses, 
and  men  all  of  equal  size  and  of  equal  distinctness, 
as  if  all  were  at  an  equal  distance  from  the  beholder. 
This  treatment  is  so  foreign  to  us  that  it  interferes 
with  our  understanding  and  enjoyment.  We  are 
consequently  so  much  the  more  justified  in  altering 
such  treatment  in  translating,  since  by  so  doing  we 


34  THE   AKT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

are  only  replacing  a  part  of  the  help  which  was  fur- 
nished to  the  hearer  by  accentuation  and  gesture. 
In  later  Greek  also  it  is  often  the  case  that  an  aorist 
or  an  imperfect  in  a  subordinate  clause  must  be 
replaced  by  the  (EngHsh)  pluperfect;  for  example, 
ol  J^epKvpaloL  J^vXk'qvTjv  to  'HXeimv  'eiriveiov  iveTrprj- 
o-av,  OTL  vav<;  koI  'x^pijfiuTa  7rap€cr')(ov  l^opLvdioi'i 
(Thucydides,  i,  30), '  the  Corcyreans  burned  Cyllene, 
the  arsenal  of  the  Eleans,  because  they  had  furnished 
the  Corinthians  with  ships  and  money.'  The  whole 
system  of  the  Greek  tenses  rests  on  a  manner  of 
thought  essentially  different  from  that  of  (English) 
German  or  Latin.  To  the  Greek  the  most  important 
thing  in  what  he  was  narrating  was  the  manner  of 
the  action.  The  different  stages  of  the  past  did  not 
come  into  the  expression.  The  temporal  relation 
between  numerous  past  actions  was  unspecified,  so 
that  the  reader  or  hearer  had  to  conclude  from  the 
context  the  order  of  events."  ^ 


1  Cauer,  Die  KuQst  des  Uebersetzens,  p.  81. 


-TRANSLATION   NOT   EXPLANATION.  35 


TRANSLATION   NOT   EXPLANATION. 

One  thing  I  wish  to  emphasize  strongly,  —  transla- 
tion is  not  interpretation.  The  work  of  the  translator 
is  one,  the  work  of  the  exegete  is  another.  Very  true 
are  the  words  of  Wilhelm  von  Humboldt:  '■'•Eine 
Uehersetzung  kann  und  soil  kein  Kommentar  sein.^''  If 
the  original  be  ambiguous,  a  faithful  translation  should 
be  just  as  ambiguous  as  the  original.  "  Here  are  tears 
for  sorrows  and  hearts  grieve  for  mortal  lot "  is  cer- 
tainly a  translation,  however  far  short  of  the  mean- 
ing of  the  original  it  may  come,  of  Vergil's  exquisitely 
touching  line  — 

Sunt  lacrimae  rerum  et  mentem  mortalia  tangunt ; 

but  Tyrrell's  "  E'en  things  inanimate  [res,  the  material 
picture]  can  weep  for  us,  and  the  works  of  man's 
hands  [mortalia']  have  their  own  pathetic  power"  is 
a  crowding  it  full  of  ingenious  interpretations  and  la- 
borious speculations. 

Indefiniteness,  often  intentional  on  the  part  of  a 
writer,  as  well  as  the  suspense  which  the  developed 
inflectional  system  of  Latin  and  Greek  readily  intro- 
duces into  a  sentence,  must  be  imitated  as  far  as  our 
idiom  will  allow.    In  the  "Agamemnon  "  of  ^Eschylus, 


36     •  THJE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

ovTO)  S'  'AT/jeW  TratSa?  6  Kpeicraoiv  |  etr  ^ AXe^dvSpm  7re/x- 
Tret  ^evLO<i  I  Zeu?,  irdXudvopo^  aficpl  yvvaiK6<i,  note  how 
indefinite  the  poet  has  made  the  lines.  When  the 
Greek  met  the  emphatic  Kpeia-atov,  he  did  not  yet  know 
to  whom  it  referred ;  he  mounts  a  ladder  of  which 
^€VLo<t  is  the  next  step  and  reaches  the  summit  Zew. 
The  order  of  thought  is :  "  And  so  a  greater  power 
sends  against  Alexandros  the  sons  of  Atreus,  a  power 
that  guards  hospitality,  a  power  which  is  no  other 
than  Zeus  himself."  Vergil's  picture  of  Helen 
crouching  by  the  altar  grows  darker  with  each  suc- 
ceeding word :  — 

lUa  sibi  infestos  eversa  ob  Pergama  Teucros, 
Et  poenas  Danaiim  et  deserti  coniugis  iras 
Permetuens,  Troiae  et  patriae  communis  Erinnys, 
Abdiderat  sese  atque  aris  invisa  sedebat. 

She,  shrinking  fi-om  the  Trojans'  hate, 
Made  frantic  by  their  city's  fate, 
Nor  dreading  less  the  Danaan  sword, 
The  vengeance  of  her  injured  lord : 
She,  Troy's  and  Argos'  common  fiend, 
Sat  cowering,  by  the  altar  screened. 

—  Conington. 

Goethe,  in  imitation  of  the  Homeric  style,  writes  : 
So  sprach,   unter   dem   Thore   des   Hauses   sitzend   am 

Markte, 
Wohlbehaglich    zur    Frau    der    Wirth    zum    goldenen 

Lowen. 

—  Hermann  und  Dorothea^  i,  20. 


TRANSLATION   NOT   EXPLANATION.  37 

We  are  at  liberty  to  supply  ellipses  only  when  the 
sense  of  the  English  sentence  would  be  absolutely 
defective  without  doing  so.  A  free  supplying  of 
words  or  phrases,  to  use  a  figure  of  Cauer,  can 
"  easily  play  a  role  similar  to  that  which  the  subsidi- 
ary line  often  plays  in  the  construction  of  a  plani- 
metric  problem.  It  ought  never  to  enter  simply  as 
a  deus  ex  machina.^^  ^ 


1  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  ties  Uebersetzens,  p.  69. 

Note.  —  As  a  good  illustration  of  what  a  translation  ought  not  to  be 
I  might  cite  such  a  rendering  as  that  given  by  Professor  Max  Muller 
to  Chandogya  Upanishad,  i,  1,  7.  An  exact  translation  of  the  original 
Sanskrit  would  run :  "  By  that  [syllable]  the  threefold  knowledge  ad- 
vances ;  OM  he  utters,  OM  he  chants,  CM  he  sings,  for  the  glory  of  that 
syllable  because  of  its  power  and  essence."  Max  Muller  translates: 
"  By  that  syllable  does  the  threefold  knowledge  (the  sacrifice,  more 
particularly  the  Soma-sacrifice,  as  founded  on  the  three  Vedas)  proceed. 
When  the  Adhvaryu  priest  gives  an  order,  he  says  Om.  When  the 
Hotri  priest  recites,  he  says  Om.  When  the  Udgatri  priest  sings,  he 
says  Om,  —  all  for  the  glory  of  that  syllable.  The  threefold  knowledge 
(the  sacrifice)  proceeds  by  the  greatness  of  that  syllable  (the  vital 
breaths),  and  by  its  essence  (the  oblations)." 

Such  a  "  translation  "  is  not  a  translation ;  it  is  an  interpretation  so 
stuflfed  with  padding  as  even  to  obscure  the  sense  of  the  passage. 


38  THE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 


THE  CHOICE  OF  WORDS. 

The  choice  of  words  in  translation  is  what  the 
selection  of  color  is  in  painting.  It  often  happens 
that  no  English  word  exists  that  contains  all  the  full- 
ness of  meaning  of  the  foreign  word ;  while  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  often  the  case  that  we  can  find  no 
English  word  but  what  is  stronger  than  the  idea  con- 
tained in  the  original.  Let  us  illustrate  by  Greek 
and  English.  The  figure  that  Cauer  has  borrowed 
from  Schopenhauer  is  admirably  adapted  to  illustrate 
the  frequent  overlapping  of  ideas.  Let  us  draw  two 
intersecting  circles.  If  we  take  the  idea  in  the  Eng- 
lish horse  and  that  in  the  Greek  itttto^;,  the  circum- 
ferences of  the  two  circles  must  nearly  coincide.  But 
if  we  put,  for  example,  the  idea  in  (xaxfypcov  into  one 
circle  and  the  idea  in  our  English  discreet  into  an- 
other, it  will  foUow  that  a  part  of  the  idea  in  the 
circle  discreet  comes  witliin  the  Greek  circle  a<o(l>pa)v, 
but  a  part  of  the  circle  aan^pwv  lies  outside  of  the 
circle  discreet,  as  also  a  part  of  the  circle  discreet  lies 
outside  of  the  circle  arca^pav.  The  task  of  the  trans- 
lator is  to  get  an  English  word  whose  circle  will  be 
as  nearly  coincident  with  that  of  the  Greek  word  as 
possible.  Accordingly  he  should  not  hesitate  to  use  a 
different  English  word  for  aox^pav  in  a  different  appli- 


THE  CHOICE   OF  WORDS.  39 

cation,  since  if  he  always  renders  aax^pwy  by  the  same 
English  word,  he  may  introduce  a  quality  not  in  the 
Greek  at  all.  To  make  this  clear  we  will  use  a  dia- 
gram. 


Let  a  quality  x  of  the  Greek  circle  a-a^pav  be  char- 
acteristic of  an  object  2,  then  the  English  discreet  can 
also  apply  to  z,  since  x  represents  what  aw^pcov  and 
discreet  have  in  common.  On  the  other  hand,  let  a 
quality  y  of  aco^pmv  be  characteristic  of  an  object  w^ 
then  we  see  that  the  English  word  discreet  would  be 
inapplicable  to  w,  since  the  quality  of  a(o^paiv  repre- 
sented by  y  lies  outside  the  circle  discreet. 

Right  here,  let  us  note,  is  where  the  classical  stu- 
dent gets  the  fullest  disciplinary  value  in  his  study 
of  Latin  and  Greek.  The  struggle  in  the  discrimi- 
nation of  words  which  he  encounters  in  the  selection 
of  the  most  appropriate  English  term  for  a(6(f>pa)v  in 
different  applications  is  the  same  that  increases  his 
power  to  choose  the  exact  English  word  for  his  ideas. 
All  this  is  correspondingly  true  of  modern  languages, 


40  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

especially  in  the  case  of  poetry.  "  In  German,"  says 
Bayard  Taylor,  "  a  word  which  in  ordinary  use  has 
a  bare,  prosaic  character,  may  receive  a  fairer  and 
finer  quality  from  its  place  in  verse.  The  prose 
translator  should  certainly  be  able  to  feel  the  mani- 
festation of  tliis  law  in  both  languages,  and  should  so 
choose  his  words  as  to  meet  their  reciprocal  require- 
ments. A  man,  however,  who  is  not  keenly  sensible 
to  the  power  and  beauty  and  value  of  rhythm  is  likely 
to  overlook  these  delicate  yet  more  necessary  distinc- 
tions. The  author's  thought  is  stripped  of  a  last 
grace  in  passing  through  his  mind,  and  frequently 
presents  very  much  the  same  resemblance  to  the  ori- 
ginal as  an  unhewn  shaft  to  the  fluted  column."  ^ 

The  English,  above  all  languages  abounds  in  nice- 
ties of  expression,  a  neglect  of  which  is  stultifying. 
When  we  strain  the  unfortunately  elastic  power  of 
swch  terms  as  good  or  thing,  instead  of  using  words 
which  might  accurately  express  our  ideas  even  to 
the  subtlest  shade  of  meaning,  we  sin  against  our- 
selves as  well  as  against  our  language.  We  shut 
ourselves  into  a  little  circle  and  miss  the  vast  out- 
side. We  do  not  draw  on  our  treasure  house.  It  is 
well  to  remember  the  words  of  Jacob  Grimm,  which, 
coming  as  they  do  from  a  foreigner,  carry  with  them 
greater  force.  "  In  copiousness,"  he  says,  "  in  close 
arrangement  of  parts,  in  keen  understanding,  not 
one  of  the  living  languages  can  be  matched  with 
1  Translation  of  Faast. 


THE   CHOICE   OF   WORDS.  41 

English,  —  no,  not  even  our  own  German,  which  must 
rid  itself  of  many  imperfections  before  it  proves  it- 
self equal  to  its  possibilities."  ^ 

If  it  be  true  that  ideas  in  a  foreign  word  and  in 
an  English  word  overlap,  how  much  more  true  is  it 
in  the  case  of  the  finished  sentence.  The  effort  of 
the  translator  is  to  bring  the  original  and  the  English 
sentences  into  such  coincidence  as  his  skill  will  allow. 
I  doubt  if  absolute  coincidence  —  except  in  sentences 
of  simple  meaning  —  is  possible,  for  the  work  of  the 
translator,  like  that  of  the  painter,  is  toward  an  in- 
finite goal.  No  painter,  however  skilful,  can  repro- 
duce a  landscape  perfectly  true  to  nature.  The  best 
painter  is  not  the  one  who  paints  the  scene  with  ex- 
actness in  color  and  detail ;  but  the  best  painter  is 
he  who,  overmastered  by  the  greatness  of  the  vision 
and  realizing  the  limitations  of  his  art,  paints  the 
scene  most  true  to  nature.  So  the  best  translator  is 
not  he  who  exactly  reproduces  the  original  in  English, 
—  for  that  is  impossible,  —  but  he  who  mpst  nearly  re- 
produces it.  In  saying  this  I  do  not  depreciate  the 
work  of  translating ;  on  the  other  hand,  I  emphasize 
the  infinite  possibilities  of  the  art.  Look  at  the  pic- 
ture of  a  mother's  love  in  the  beautiful  lines  of 
Simonides :  — 

Sre  Xdpvaxt  xelr  kv  8aidakia.y 
avefid^  T  iipdpst  piv  izviiov  xivrjdelffd  re  Xtp-va, 
ieifia  npoffsTpne  tot  oux  d.8idvToiai  Tzapstalf;^ 
^Ueber  den  Ursprung  der  Sprache. 


42  TKE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

ifupi  re  Uepffil'  jSdXXe  (piXav  x^p\  eT'rei'  t'  <J>  r^xoy, 

oTov  e^ut  -Kovov  ah  S"  dw-eX'S' 

yaXaOrjXfi  kddt'i  xvuiffffetc  ^v  arspizej 

dovpuTi  ^aXxeoyo  11^(1} y 

vuxt\  akafinel  xuaviu)  t£  dvoytp  xaTaXeiz' 

aXjiav  S"  uTzepdev  teolv  xofidv  jSaOsTav 

TzapiovTO^  xo/MUTO^  oux  dX.ij'ei^,  ou5'  dvip.(Ov 

(pOoyyov^  itop^upia 

xetp.£voi  iv  ^Xavtdt,  TzpoawTzov  xXtOkv  -KpoatuTzu). 

el  dd  Toi  deivov  to  ye  deivov  ^v, 

xai  xsv  k[xu>v  'py);idTU}v  Xenrov  oirsl^ei}  o5a<f. 

xiXo/iai  8\  euSe  ^pi<pu<Sj  eOdirut  5k  7r«vT09, 

eudiru)  S'  u/jlotov  xaxoy 

fierai^oXta  ds'  -£9  faveii^,  Zeu  Tzdrsp, 

ix  ffidsv  oTTt  8k  OapaaXiov  irrog 

su^ofiai  yo(j(piv  8ixa<i^  avyyvwOi  jioi. 

Note  how  Symonds  has  given  us  that  picture  with 
its  pathos  and  its  tenderness,  but  still  we  feel  how 
far  short  of  the  original  his  translation,  artistic  as  it 
is,  really  comes :  — 

When,  in  the  carven  chest, 
The  winds  that  blew  and  waves  in  wild  unrest 
Smote  her  with  fear,  she,  not  with  cheeks  unwet, 
Her  arms  of  love  round  Perseus  set. 

And  said :  O  child,  what  grief  is  mine ! 
But  thou  dost  slumber,  and  thy  baby  breast 
Is  sunk  in  rest. 

Here  in  the  cheerless  brass-bound  bark, 
Tossed  amid  starless  night  and  pitchy  dark. 


THE  CHOICE   OF   WORDS.  43 

Nor  dost  thou  heed  the  scudding  brine 
Of  waves  that  wash  above  thy  curls  so  deep, 
Nor  the  shrill  winds  that  sweep,  — 
Lapped  in  thy  purple  robe's  embrace, 
Fair  little  face ! 

But  if  this  dread  were  dreadful  too  to  thee. 
Then  wouldst  thou  lend  thy  listening  ear  to  me ; 
Therefore  I  cry,  —  Sleep,  babe,  and  sea  be  still, 
And  slumber  our  unmeasured  ill ! 

Oh,  may  some  change  of  fate,  sire  Zeus,  from  thee 
Descend,  our  woes  to  end ! 
But  if  this  prayer,  too  overbold,  offend 

Thy  justice,  yet  be  merciful  to  me ! 


44  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATElfG. 


PRIMITIVE  SIGNIFICATIOlf. 

The  ignoring  of  the  prmiitive  signification  of  a  word, 
which  is  encouraged  by  the  unambitious  method  of 
searching  the  vocabulary  for  that  meaning  which  may 
fit  the  context,  cannot  be  too  severely  condemned. 
Where  is  the  mental  discipline  of  independent  dis- 
crimination, if  one  is  to  turn  to  the  vocabulary  for  a 
"eady-made  selection  ?  I  believe  that  the  dictionaries 
often  become  a  mere  mental  crutch,  and  a  slavish 
dependence  upon  them  is  as  stultifpng  as  the  use  of 
a  translation.  Special  dictionaries  which  emphasize 
special  meanings  tend  to  increase  this  evil.  Nothing 
can  be  more  apt  than  the  following  figure  of  Cauer  : 
"  The  derived  signification  of  words  are  like  cut 
flowers  which  soon  wither,  whereas  one  who  has  fixed 
upon  the  primitive  meaning  possesses  a  living  stem 
from  which  with  fostering  he  can  secure  blossoms 
which  are  always  new.  The  teaching  of  the  primi- 
tive signification  is  that  branch  of  philology  which 
can  be  most  productive  of  good  results  to  the  pupU, 
for  it  furnishes  him  little  problems  which  his  youthful 
mind  investigates  with  success,  and  also  helps  toward 
the  understanding  of  his  own  language."  ^ 

No  task  is  more  delicate  than  the  choice  of  an 
1  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  ties  Uebersetzens,  p.  21. 


PRIMITIVE   SIGNIFICATION.  45 

English  word  to  convey  the  idea  of  the  orginal ;  it 
is,  as  I  have  said,  precisely  like  the  selection  of  color 
by  the  artist.  Take  that  Homeric  word  which  well- 
nigh  baffles  the  translator,  that  is,  Saifiovio^.  "Our 
dictionaries  seek  in  vain,"  says  Cauer,  "  to  give  a 
suitable  rendering  of  it."  Lehrs'  explanation  is  a 
good  one,  namely,  "  That  person  whose  manner  of 
action  is  so  different  from  what  is  usual  or  expected 
that  Ave  can  explain  it  only  through  the  theory  of  a 
divine  interference."  Let  us  take  some  of  the  ex- 
amples cited  by  Cauer:  8.  774,  "Are  you  crazy?"  or 
perhaps  better,  "  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ? " 
yfr.  165,  "I  don't  understand  you."  Z.  407,  Aai/xo'we, 
<f>6i(Tet  <T€  TO  (70V  fi€vo^,  "  You  iufatuatc  man,  your 
courage  will  be  your  destruction." 

As  a  general  rule,  the  same  English  word  should  be 
used  to  represent  the  same  foreign  word.  But  often, 
as  we  have  illustrated  by  the  intersecting  but  non- 
coincident  circles,  the  idea  of  the  English  word  cor- 
responding to  the  idea  of  the  foreign  word  in  one 
application  may  be  entirely  at  variance  with  it  in 
another.  The  policy  of  Rothfuchs  in  translating 
Homer  is  excellent,  that  is,  to  translate  the  orna- 
mental epithets  by  the  same  word  when  they  recur  in 
reference  to  the  same  person  or  thing.  The  idea  in 
6a\ep6<i  which  is  applicable  in  the  phrase  OaXepof 
ydfiof  is  entirely  different  from  that  in  Oakepov 
SaKpv  (cf.  Cauer,  p.  48).  No  one  English  word 
can  be  found  whose  circle  of  ideas  can  coincide  with 


46  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

the  circle  of  the  widely  divergent  ideas  which  are 
concentrated  about  the  primitive  meaning  of  da\ep6<;. 
Now  what  shall  the  translator  do  ?  He  must  not  sin 
against  his  own  language  by  crowding  into  an  English 
word  a  lot  of  unnatural  meanings.  He  has  no  right 
to  say  "  blooming  marriage  "  and  "  blooming  tear," 
lest  the  epithet  become  but  a  meaningless  sound.  He 
must  select  an  English  word  which  will  cut  the  circle 
of  OaXepof  sufficiently  to  allow  a  common  idea  to  lie 
within  both  circumferences.  In  whatever  application 
the  Greek  epithet  contains  this  idea,  the  English  word 
will  adequately  reproduce  it.  In  the  same  way,  the 
circle  of  another  English  word  must  intersect  the 
circle  of  0aX€p6<;  at  other  points,  in  order  that  a 
common  idea  may  be  found  for  a  different  application. 
In  the  translation  of  the  same  foreign  word  by  the 
same  English  word  in  the  same  application,  and  in 
the  translation  by  a  consistently  different  word  in  dif- 
ferent applications,  the  translator  is  faithful  to  his 
real  task,  that  is,  the  reproduction  of  the  feelings 
kindled  by  the  use  of  the  words  in  the  original. 


SYNONYMS.  47 


SYNONYMS. 

When  a  foreign  writer  repeatedly  uses  the  same 
word,  the  translator  has  no  right  to  attempt  the  so- 
called  refinement  of  his  style  by  seeking  to  avoid 
repetition.  The  superb  diction  of  Matthew  Arnold 
is  a  standing  contradiction  to  the  old  theory  that  the 
same  word  or  phrase  must  not  recur  in  too  close  con- 
nection. When  a  writer  has  occasion  to  express 
exactly  the  same  idea,  there  is  no  reason  why  he 
should  not  repeat  his  former  expression,  instead  of 
studiedly  endeavoring  to  run  a  synonym  into  its 
place.  For  example,  in  Od.,  e.  217,  elSo?  aKthvorepr} 
fi€y€66<;  T  dcravra  ISeaOai,  we  ought  with  Cauer  to 
translate  eZ8o9  and  ISeadac  by  words  of  the  same  root. 
Very  effective  is  the  repetition  in  nigris  oculis  nigroque 
crine  of  Horace's  stanza :  — 

Liberum  et  Musas  Veneremque  et  iUi 
Semper  haerentem  puerum  canebat ; 
Et  Lycum  nigris  oculis  nigroque 
Crine  decorum. 

Of  Bacchus  and  the  Muses  sung, 
And  Cupid,  still  at  Venus'  side, 
And  Lycus,  beautiful  and  young, 
Dark-haired,  dark-eyed. 

—  Conington. 


48  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  synonyms  exist  in  the 
original,  great  care  should  be  used  in  reproducing 
them.  Cauer  suggests  that  the  distinction  between 
Be/xafi,  <^vri,  eZSo?  (Od.,  e.  212  fg.)  should  be  preserved 
by  translating  "form,"  "stature,"  "look"  (^Gestalt, 
Wuchs,  Aussehen).  So  the  translator  should  differen- 
tiate iu8  and/a«  in  Persius'  striking  lines  :  — 

Quin  damus  id  Superis,  de  magna  quod  dare  lance 
Non  possit  magni  Messallae  lippa  propago  : 
Compositum  ius  fasque  animo,  sanctosque  recessus 
Mentis,  et  incoctum  generoso  pectus  honesto. 

Give  we  to  the  gods  such  offerings  as  great  Messalla's 
blear-eyed  son  cannot  give,  be  his  dish  never  so  ample,  — 
duty  to  God  and  man  well  blended  in  the  mind,  purity  in 
the  heart's  shrine,  and  a  bosom  full  of  the  inbred  nobihty 
of  goodness.  —  Tyrrell, 

Right  here  I  wish  to  apply  the  words  of  Cauer 
respecting  Homeric  phraseology :  — 

"A  certain  uniformity  of  expression  is  essential 
not  to  the  thought,  but  to  the  style.  It  may  seem  to 
us  strange,  and  many  times  tedious,  that  the  same 
turns  of  expression  so  constantly  recur ;  that  morn- 
ing and  evening,  eating  and  drinking,  question  and 
answer,  wound  and  death,  are  always  found  with  the 
same  delineations  ;  that  the  day  is  always  designated 
'  divine,'  the  sea  always  '  gray,'  the  ships  always  '  swift,' 
even  though  they  lie  in  the  harbor,  the  sky  always 


SYNONYMS.  49 

'starry,'  even  in  the  bright  day;  that  Zeus  calls 
Clytaemnestra's  seducer  'a  [hero]  without  blemish' 
at  the  very  moment  when  he  is  speaking  of  his  crime. 

"  But  such  outgrowth  belongs  to  the  very  body  of 
the  old  epic,  and  the  translator  who  strips  it  off  mars 
it.  Two  German  translators  have  done  this.  Her- 
mann Grimm  expressly  boasts  that  he  has  omitted  the 
customary  high-sounding  epithets.  Wilhelm  Jordan, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  sought  to  keep  alive  the 
standing  epithets  by  translating  them  differently  in  dif- 
ferent places.  He  has  for  TrohwKea  TlrjXei'wva  six  ex- 
pressions,— ' the  swift  Achilles,'  'the  swift  Pelides,' 
'  the  swift  son  of  Peleus,'  '  the  swift-rushing  Achil- 
les,' '  Pelides,  master  in  the  race ' ;  and  finally,  omit- 
ting the  epithet  as  Grimm  has  done,  he  translates 
simply  'Pelides.'  Both  scholars  have  injured  where 
they  intended  to  help,  especially  Jordan,  since  he  not 
only  ignores  an  element  of  epic  style,  but  puts  a 
false  one  in  its  place.  A  charm  of  Homer's  recital 
lies  in  this,  that  it  lets  us  share  for  a  moment  in  that 
higher  world-vision  in  which  all  things  appear  bathed 
in  a  golden  luster,  —  a  vision  whose  reality  the  Greek 
people  so  clearly  recognized  and  so  charmingly  set 
forth  in  the  belief  that  it  could  have  Hved  only  in 
the  memory  of  a  blind  old  bard."  ^ 

The  translator  ignores  the  author's  use  of  syno- 
nyms when  he  renders  rSiv  taoiv  as  rS)v  avr&v 
("  CEdipus  Tyrannus  "  of  Sophocles,  1. 1498,  kcck  rwv 
^Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  pp.  48-60. 


60  THE  AET  OF  TRANSLATING. 

ta-cov  I  GKTrjcraff  vfxa'i  5)V7rep  avTo^  ef ei^f ),  "  from  the 
same  source  whence  he  sprang  "  ;  rather  let  him  trans- 
late with  Jebb,  "from  a  source  which  was  even  as  that 
whence  he  sprang."  The  frequent  empty  English 
translation  of  such  Greek  words  as  epyov,  TrpdyfiUy 
KUKo^  is  slovenly  in  the  extreme.  How  we  should 
render  epyov  depends  largely  on  the  point  of  view. 
If  we  look  forward,  epyov  becomes  a  "  duty "  or 
"  task  "  ;  if  we  look  backward,  it  becomes  a  "  deed  " 
(ef.  Cauer,  p.  50).  How  often  does  discrimination 
suffer  in  the  rendering  of  Trpa^y/ia.  The  context 
alone  must  determine  the  exact  English  word  to  be 
employed ;  for  example,  "  Seven  against  Thebes  "  of 
-^schylus,  1.  689,  eVel  ro  Trpdyfia  Kcipr  eTTLO-Trep^ei 
Oe6<;,  "since  God  mightily  urges  on  the  crisis." 

The  remarks  of  Cauer  respecting  the  Latin  res  are 
sifTiificant  and  contain  a  broad  application  to  the 
class  of  words  we  are  discussing.  "  The  reason  for 
the  multiplicity  of  meanings  in  such  a  word  lies,  not 
in  the  rich  content  of  the  Latin  conception,  but  in 
its  emptiness.  The  word  is  like  a  vessel  into  which 
is  thrown  the  idea  that  is  gained  from  the  surround- 
ing clauses.  The  simple  and  concise  Roman  method 
of  thought  made  it  possible  for  such  an  implied  idea 
to  depend  upon  the  context ;  our  more  complex,  but 
at  the  same  time  more  loosely  joined,  lines  of  thought 
demand  an  outward  help  to  grasp  correctly  the  idea. 
When  the  Roman  read  haec  res  or  eius  rei  or  quam 
renit  he  knew  of  himself  whether  it  was  a  deed  or  a 


SYNONYMS.  51 

thought,  a  demand  or  a  concession,  a  theory  or  a  fact, 
a  purpose  or  an  action,  a  hope  or  a  fear,  a  design  or 
a  result,  an  object  or  a  relation ;  whereas  an  (English) 
author  is  forced  continuously  to  remind  his  reader  of 
what  he  is  treating.  Translations,  as  those  here  in- 
dicated, must  not  be  avoided  in  the  belief  that  they 
do  not  correspond  closely  enough  to  the  original ;  it 
is  not  the  words  but  the  thought  that  we  must  trans- 
late. The  distinction  lies  only  in  this,  that  to  the 
foreign  author  it  did  not  seem  necessary,  as  in  the 
case  of  res,  or  it  was  not  practicable,  as  in  many 
Homeric  conceptions,  where  we  must  differentiate  to 
show  in  language  that  which  to  the  author  stood 
clearly  enough  before  his  mind."  ^ 


1  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  pp.  63, 54. 


62  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 


ETYMOLOGY. 

What  part  should  etymology  play  in  the  work  of 
translation  ?  I  believe  it  is  very  easy  for  one  inter- 
ested in  philology  to  import  too  much  of  this  into  a 
realm  which  lies  quite  distinct  from  it.  As  a  general 
thing  the  etymology  of  a  word  is  of  little  service  to 
the  translator.  The  province  of  the  pliilologist  is  one ; 
that  of  the  translator  is  another.^  Cauer  suggests 
that  the  translator  should  not  concern  himself  with 
etymologies  which  were  not  apparent  to  the  authors 
themselves. 

On  the  other  hand,  all  etymologies,  whether  real 

1 1  have  often  been  asked  how  far  the  teacher  should  make  use  of 
etymology.  There  are  some  cases,  I  believe,  when  it  may  be  made 
the  instrument  of  fixing  in  the  mind  the  root  meaning  of  the  word. 
But  when  once  introduced,  it  should  be  made  as  plain  as  is  practicable. 
The  teacher  may  assert  that  the  Ij&tin  Jingo,  for  example,  is  the  same 
word  as  our  English  dough.  The  pupil  will  believe  the  assertion,  but 
at  the  same  time  he  will  wonder  at  such  a  seemingly  strange  connec- 
tion. On  the  other  band,  if  the  teacher  should  lead  him  to  the  primitive 
DHEiGH,  and  explain  how  initial  dh,  through  an  intervening  stage  of 
a  sound  like  our  th  in  thin,  became /in  Latin,  the  student  will  begin  to 
see  that  there  have  been  at  work  great  phonetic  laws,  and  that  what 
seems  strange  is  after  all  very  regular.  This  treatment  when  used  with 
discretion  is  stimulating,  while  the  result  will  be  that  the  pupil,  with 
the  English  cognate  before  him,  can  never  fail  to  associate  Jingo 
with  the  idea  of  "  work  in  plastic  material."  But  philological  matter, 
for  the  mere  sake  of  philology,  should  have  no  place  in  the  younger 
classes.  To  immature  students  the  subject  can  only  be  distracting  and 
confusing. 


ETYMOLOGY.  63 

or  fanciful,  of  wliich  the  writer  was  conscious,  should 
not  only  be  recognized,  but  carefully  reproduced, 
since  these  have  to  do  with  the  ti-anslator's  art.  No 
translation,  for  example,  preserves  the  spirit  of  the 
original  which  does  not  render  the  etymological  play 
on  words  :  Avkel  ava^,  Xv/ceio?  yevov  ("  Seven  against 
Thebes,"  145),  "Wolf-lord,  prove  thy  wolfish  power" 
(VerraU).  The  sense  of  many  a  passage  in  Dante 
rests  on  just  such  a  turn  of  the  sentence ;  for  example, 
Qui  Vive  la  pietd  quand'e  hen  morta,  "  Here  can  live 
piety  l_pietd'\  when  pity  [^pietd']  is  dead."  The  trans- 
lator can  easUy  observe  etjrmology  in  such  words  as 
avPTo/jLco'i,  "concisely,"  ifnreSay;,  "constantly";  or, 
better  still,  to  use  an  Anglo-Saxon  word,  "  stead- 
fastly." Etymology  demands  the  rendering  of  all 
negative  ideas  by  negative  ideas.  It  is  a  frequent 
sin  of  the  translator  to  substitute  a  positive  for  the 
negative.  He  often  translates,  for  example,  artfio'i, 
"  shameful,"  where  he  ought  to  give  the  negative 
"  unhonored  "  ;  again  he  translates  immemor,  "  for- 
getful," instead  of  "unmindful." 

The  figurae  etymologicae  are  characteristic  of  an 
author's  style;  they  strike  the  reader  or  hearer  as 
two  similar  sounds  strike  the  ear :  it  is  unpardonable 
in  the  translator  if  he  ignores  them.  We  should  not 
render  firf  Orjaavpi^ere  vfitv  Orjcravpov^  iirl  tt)?  7^9  — 
OTTOv  KXerrrai  —  KXerrrova-iv  (Matt.  6:19),  "Do  not 
lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth  .  .  . 
where  thieves  ,  ,  ,  steal."     In  such  a  translation  the 


54  THE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

effect  of  the  repetition  of  similar  sounds  through 
the  recurrence  of  tie  same  root  is  entirely  lost.  Ety- 
mology requires,  "  Do  not  treasure  for  yourselves 
treasures  upon  earth  .  .  .  where  robbers  .  .  .  rob." 
The  etymological  figure,  important  as  it  is,  has  been 
so  frequently  shghted  in  translation  that  there  is  need 
of  a  word  of  caution  against  its  neglect.  How  effec- 
tive is  it  in  the  familiar  passage,  Ad  senem  senex  de 
seneetute  seripsi,  "I  wrote  to  an  old  man,  being  an 
old  man  myself,  about  old  age  "  I  Again  we  see  its 
power  in  the  equally  well-known  words  of  Ennius' 
tragedy :  — 

Ego  deum  genus  esse  dixi  et  dicam  caelitum : 
Sed  608  non  curare  opinor,  quid  agat  humanum  genus 
Nam   si   curant  bene  bonis  sit,  male  malis,  quod  nunc 
abest. 

"I  maintain  and  always  shaU  maintain  that  there  is  a 
race  of  gods  up  in  heaven,  but  they  don't  bother,  I  guess, 
about  what  men  do  here,  for  if  they  did,  it  would  go  justly 
with  the  just  and  badly  with  the  bad,  which  is  now  fai 
from  the  case." 


THE   ORDER   OF    WORDS.  55 


THE  ORDER  OF  WORDS. 

If  translation  were  the  rendering  of  the  foreign 
words  or  the  foreign  constructions  into  the  corre- 
sponding English,  then  literalness  would  have  to  be 
insisted  upon.  But  since  translation  is  nothing  less 
than  the  reproduction  of  the  impressions,  the  feelings, 
and  the  emotions  that  were  aroused  in  the  native  mind 
as  the  thought  of  the  sentence  first  came  to  it,  the  trans- 
lator, as  far  as  his  art  and  the  idiom  of  his  language 
will  allow,  must  unfold  the  idea  in  his  English  just 
as  the  original  sentence  unfolded  it ;  ^  for  example, 


1  Christ,  in  commenting  on  the  word-order  (raft?)  of  Demosthenes, 

cites  Olynthiac,  iii,  13 :  elr'  oieo-fl'  avTOf,  oi  inoC-ricrav  (xef  ovSef  av  KaKoy,  /a.rj 
wa0elv  6'  i<j>v\diavT'  av  ia<os,  tovtovs  fiiv  i^anarav  atpcto'dai  iiaXXov  r)  irpoKeyovra 
/3ia^e<rdai,  Vfilv  S'eK  npopprjaeioi  noKeiJ.rj(Teiv  Koi  raud'  iiai  av  iKovra  e^a7raTa<r0e. 

His  observations  on  the  above  passage  are  very  fine.  "  Wir  haben 
hier  ein  konditionales  Sachverhaltnis,  aber  das  bringt  der  Rednernicht 
in  der  langweiligen  Form  der  Logik  mit  Vorder — und  Nachsatz  vor 
(weun.  ...  so),  sondern  in  kraftvoller  Nebeneinanderstellung  der 
Gegensatze  und  mit  wirksamstem  Appell  an  das  eigene  Urteil  der 
ZuhOrer  {oU<tO'  airov — jroAsMW**")  •  Gcstcllt  siud  die  Worte  so,  dass  nicht 
ein  nichtssagendes  Pronomen  dem  Relativsatz  vorangeht,  sondern  das 
Relativum  ol  mit  dem  Demonstrativum  tou'tou?  wirkungsvoll  aufgenom- 
men  wird,  dass  ferner  die  entgegengesetzten  Pronomina  rovrovt  und 
iii'iv  an  der  Spitze  stehen  und  dass  die  Gegensatze  e^anarav  und  ^^af«<7■«at 
die  nichtsbedeutenden  Worte  alpe'iireai.  —  wpoAeyoi'Ta  in  die  Mitte  nehmen. 
Um  dem  Zw^eifel,  ob  die  Duodezstaaten  sich  Uberhaupt  zur  Wehr 
setzen  wiirden,  kraftigeren  Ausdruck  zu  geben,  ist  von  der  gewOhn- 
lichen  Stellung  Won  av  c<^vAa;ai>roUmgang  genommen  und  das  zweifelnde 


56  THE   AKT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

Samnitium  eaesi  tria  milia  duoenti  (Livy,  x,  34,  3), 
"  The  Samnites  were  slain  to  the  number  of  three 
thousand  two  hundred."  The  vigor  of  the  famous 
expression  of  Louis  XIV,  L'Stat  c'est  moi,  "  The 
state  —  it  is  I,"  is  altogether  lost  in  the  customary 
but  tame  rendering,  "  I  am  the  state."  I  recall  how 
this  inversion  of  order,  a  thing  seemingly  so  trivial, 
has  become  a  grievous  fault  in  the  translation  of 
several  Sanskrit  philosophical  treatises  by  a  dis- 
tinguished German  scholar.  Professor  Whitney's 
criticism  concerning  it  applies  equally  well  to  aU 
translation :  "  The  difference  in  order,  it  may  be  said, 
is  very  small,  like  that  between  a  =  b  and  b=  a;  yet 
there  is  a  real  difference  whether  one  starts  from 
the  one  point  or  from  the  other  in  making  the  com- 
parison ;  this  is  evidenced  by  the  care  which  is  taken 
almost  everywhere  (not  quite  without  exception) 
by  the  translator  to  cast  the  predication  into  this 
form,  —  inverting,  as  I  think,  the  true  relation,  and 
sometimes  against  very  distinct  evidence  to  the 
contrary"  (Review  of  Bohtlingk's  "Upanishads"). 
In  the  normal  order  the  writer  or  speaker  starts 
with  the  known,  or,  as  Weil  puts  it,  the  "initial 
notion,"  and  proceeds  to  the  unknown,  or  "goal  of 
discourse."     It   is   not   always    the  emphatic  word 

to-w?  mit  nachdruck  an  den  Schluss  gesetzt;  um  endlich  den  anstossigen 
Hiatus  alpeltrOai,  r)  rrpoKeyovra  zu  vermeiden,  crlaubt  sich  der  Eedner  eln 
nberfliissiges  oder  doch  nicht  notwendiges  iiaWov  zwischen  die  lilafiRen- 
den  Vokale  zu  achieben." —Geschichte  der  griechischen  Litteratur, 
p.  345. 


THE   ORDER   OF   WORDS.  57 

which  stands  first.  Precision  demands  that  the 
speaker  begin  with  the  word  most  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  thought  of  the  preceding  sentence. 
Take  the  common  example,  Romulus  Romam  condidit^ 
and  note  the  following  comments:  "The  order  of 
words  in  this  proposition  will  depend  on  the  context, 
on  the  thread  of  the  discourse.  If  the  subject  under 
discussion  is  the  founding  of  cities,  the  *  initial 
notion '  or  '  psychological  subject '  will  be  the  found- 
ing, and  the  order  will  be,  condidit  Romam  Romulus^ 
*the  founder  of  Rome  was  Romulus.'  If,  on  the 
contrary,  the  subject  in  hand  is  the  founder,  the 
order  will  be,  idem  Romulus  Romam  condidit,  *the 
same  Romulus  founded  Rome.'  If  the  subject  is 
the  city's  founding,  the  order  will  be,  hanc  urhem 
condidit  Romulus,  '  this  city  was  founded  by  Romu- 
lus.' In  each  instance  the  principle  of  connection 
operates ;  the  idea  connecting  with  what  precedes, 
comes  first  —  the  new  idea  comes  last.  In  other 
words,  the  progression  is  from  the  known  to  the 
unknown.  Or,  expressed  in  still  different  terms, 
the  'psychological  subject'  comes  first  in  each  in- 
stance ;  the  '  psychological  predicate  '  last."  ^ 

We  need  to  note  the  differentiation  of  principal 
and  subordinate  sentences.  In  the  principal  sentence, 
as  Wunderlich  ("  Der  deutsehe  Satzhau ")  shows, 
thought  and  speech  cooperate  at  the  same  time,  the 

1  McEnight,  Primitive  Teutonic  Order  of  Words.  The  Journal  of 
Germanic  Philology,  Vol.  I. 


58  THE  AET   OF   TBANSLATING. 

sentence  consisting  of  individual  parts  treated  as  a 
unity.  But  in  the  subordinate  sentence,  language 
follows  thought,  and  deals  with  a  finished  concept. 

Emphasis  of  course  changes  the  word-order,  but 
how  it  shall  be  changed  rests  entirely  upon  the  nature 
of  the  sentence  and  the  character  of  the  language. 
This  has  been  well  expressed  by  McKnight :  — 

"  To  form  a  more  accurate  notion  of  the  influence 
of  emphasis  in  determining  word-order,  you  must  bear 
in  mind  that  this  influence  is  an  indirect  one.  The 
desire  to  emphasize  first  influences  the  accentuation, 
and  only  indirectly,  through  the  accentuation,  influ- 
ences the  order  of  words.  The  principle  of  empha- 
sis, then,  influences  word-order  only  in  this  way,  that 
a  writer  or  speaker  always  endeavors  to  place  the 
word  to  be  emphasized  in  the  position  that  naturally 
has  the  stress,  the  next  most  important  word  in  the 
position  that  naturally  has  the  secondary  stress,  and 
so  on,  thus  placing  the  ideas  in  perspective. 

"  To  determine  the  principles  of  accentuation, 
then,  is  necessary  before  one  can  understand  the  in- 
fluence of  the  principle  of  emphasis  on  word-order. 
This  has  not  yet  been  satisfactorily  done.  In  making 
such  a  determination,  the  unit  of  language  con- 
sidered must  be,  not  the  logical  unit,  the  sentence, 
but  the  spoken  unit,  the  breath  group.  At  present 
we  know  only  that  the  accentuation  is  different  in 
different  kinds  of  clauses,  the  interrogative  clause 
differing  in  this  respect  from  the  affirmative  clause, 


THE   ORDEK   OF   WORDS.  59 

and  that  different  languages  have  peculiar  modes  of 
accentuation.  For  example,  in  French  the  accent 
seems  to  fall  naturally  at  the  end  of  the  breath 
group ;  in  Irish  it  seems  to  fall  naturally  at  the  be- 
ginning. Note  the  peculiar  influence  of  the  different 
national  modes  of  accentuation  on  the  word-order 
in  the  following  sentences  :  '  At  such  a  time  as  this  I 
would  n't  tell  you  a  lie  ' ;  'It 's  not  a  lie  that  I  'd  be 
tellin'  you  now.' " 

We  see  that  the  translator  must  so  arrange  his 
words  as  to  preserve  emphasis  even  at  the  sacri- 
fice, if  needs  be,  of  grammatical  construction;  for 
example,  Persuasit  nox,  amor,  vinum  aduleseentia 
(Terence,  "Adelphoe,"  470),  "The  witchery  was 
night,  flirtation,  wine  and  youth"  (Lane);  wSe  yap 
Kparel  |  <yvvaiKb<i  avSpo^ovXov  eXiri^ov  Kcap  (^schylus, 
"Agamemnon,"  10),  "For  such  power  has  a  woman's 
fancying  heart."  The  English  emphatic  order  is  en- 
tirely at  variance  with  that  of  the  language  we  are 
translating  in  the  case  of  "  Lucretius,"  ii,  145 :  JEt 
variae  volucres  nemora  avia  pervolitantes  |  aera  per 
tenerum  liquidis  loca  vocibus  opplent.  The  strong 
emphasis  that  falls  on  liquidis  is  brought  over  into 
English  only  through  the  postposition  of  the  adjec- 
tive. "  And  motley  birds,  in  pathless  woods,  that 
flit  through  lither  sky,  fill  space  with  carols  clear" 
(Lane).  In  the  same  way  the  emphasis  on  the  last  two 
words  in  Nulla  placere  diu  nee  vivere  earmina  pos- 
sunt,  I  quae  scribuntur  aquae  potorihus  (Horace,  Epis- 


60  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATIi^G. 

ties,  i,  19,  2)  is  brought  out  by  the  English  order,  "  No 
verse  can  take  or  be  long-lived  that  by  teetotalers  is 
writ "  (Lane).  The  emphatic  genitive  preceding  its 
noun,  for  example,  Arma  virumque  eano,  Troiae  qui 
primus  ah  oris  |  Italiam  .  .  .  venit,  is  brought  out  in 
the  translation,  "  Arms  and  the  man  I  sing  from  Troy's 
shores  the  first  to  come  to  Italy  "  (Lane).  In  ^s- 
chylus,  "  Seven  against  Thebes,"  338,  339,  iroWa  yap, 
€VT€  TTToXt?  Safiacrdrf ,  —  e?;,  Si/cTTf t^t)  re  irpdacrei,  don't 
translate,  "  When  a  city  is  taken,  it  has  great  and 
hapless  sufferings,"  since  the  clause  evre  tttoXl^ 
Sa/xaa-Orf  is  comparatively  unemphatic  and  simply 
describes  the  situation.  The  emphasis  is  on  jroWd  and 
Bvarvxfj'  Render  "  Many  and  hapless  are  the  woes 
a  city  suffers  when  once  it  is  captured."  In  Thu- 
cydides,  i,  1,  the  force  of  the  original  order  Kiv7)ai<i 
avTT)  fieyia-TT]  can  be  reproduced  by  the  English,  "  Of 
all  movements  this  was  the  greatest."  The  awful 
situation  pictured  in  the  "  Oedipus  Tyrannus "  of 
Sophocles,  456,  is  intensified  by  the  position  of  the 
words  which  Symonds  has  well  imitated :  — 

^avTJ0£Tai  3k  Tzaia).  ro'i<i  aurou  ^uvcjv 
dLdtX<pb<:  avTo^  xai  TzaTijp,  xdf  ^9  £<pu 
yuvaixof^  olbx  zat  7ro(Tt9,  xaX  too  izarpof; 
6fi6ffT:opd<;  re  xai  <fov£0<;. 

He  shall  be  shown  to  be  with  his  own  children 
Brother  and  sire  in  one,  of  her  who  bore  him 
Husband  at  once  and  offspring,  of  his  father 
Bedmate  and  murderer. 


THE  OBDEB   OF  WOBDS.  61 

The  follomng  points  must  be  observed  in  the  effort 
to  imitate  the  original  order  of  words  or  to  preserve 
emphasis. 

Change  in  Construction.  —  The  translator  should 
never  hesitate  to  vary  the  construction,  if  by  so  do- 
ing he  can  bring  out  the  thought  more  nearly  in  the 
order  in  which  the  foreign  sentence  presented  it ;  for 
example,  ^schylus,  "Agamemnon,"  255:  &)9  OeXci 
—  epKo<i,  "as  is  the  wish  of  this  defense."  A  most 
frequent  variation  is  the  conversion  of  the  active 
voice  into  the  English  passive,  and  vice  versa;  for 
example,  L'on  me  dit  tant  de  mal  de  cet  homme,  et  J'l/ 
en  vols  81  pen,  que  je  commence  a  soupgonner  quHl  n'ait 
un  mSrite  si  importun,  qui  Steigne  celui  des  autres  (La 
Bruyere),  "I  am  told  so  much  evil  of  that  man  and 
I  see  so  little  of  it  in  him,  that  I  begin  to  suspect 
tliat  he  has  some  inconvenient  merit  which  extin- 
guishes that  of  others." 

So  in  the  translation  of  Goethe's  vivid  lines :  — 

Harrend  auf  des  Morgens  Wonne, 

Oestlich  spahend  ihren  Lauf, 
Ging  auf  einmal  mir  die  Sonne 

Wunderbar  im  Sttden  auf, 

Zog  den  Blick  nach  jener  Seite, 

Statt  der  Schluchten,  statt  der  Hoh'n, 

Statt  der  Erd — und  Hiramelsweite, 
Sie,  die  Einzige,  zu  spahn. 


62  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

Eastward  was  my  glance  directed. 

Watching  for  the  sun's  first  rays ; 
In  the  south  —  oh,  sight  of  wonder ! 

Rose  the  bright  orb's  sudden  blaze. 

Thither  was  my  eye  attracted ; 

Vanished  bay  and  mountain  height, 
Earth  and  heaven  unseen  and  all  things, 

All  but  that  enchanted  light. 

—  Anster. 

This  conversion  of  voice  is  often  demanded  in  the 
translation  of  Latin  and  Greek.  If  we  should  desire 
to  put  even  into  modern  Greek  the  ordinary  English 
sentence,  "  A  new,  attractive  edition  of  the  Anabasis 
has  recently  been  issued  by  an  American  publishing 
house,"  we  should  say,  Neai/  eXvariK-qv  ckSoctiv  t^9 
'  Avafid(T€a)<;  iSrjfiocrLevcrev  ia'^^drco^;  '  AfiepcKaviKr} 
kratpia    irpo^    eKrvTroocTLV    avyypafJL/jidTcov. 

Antithesis.  —  Antithesis  in  language  is  the  same 
principle  as  that  in  the  painter's  art  which  brings  out 
a  white  object  with  greater  intensity  when  placed  be- 
fore a  dark  background ;  for  example,  Ben  Jonson's 
"  All  concord  's  born  of  contraries."  Note  the  Ger- 
man proverb,  Kleine  Diebe  hdngt  man,  groase  Idsst 
man  laufen,  "The  petty  thief  we  hang,  the  great 
we  let  go  free."  Splendid  are  the  antitheses  of  Si- 
monides,  in  his  eulogy  on  Sparta's  dead :  — 

ra>v  iv  Ssp!ioT:ukai<i  0av6vT<av 
ebxXei]^  fikv  d  Tu^a,  xaXo?  5'  6  Ttorfio^, 
/9w/i09  S"  6  Tatpo^,  Tzpb  yoiov  3k  fivatrrtis,  6  d' 


THE   ORDER   OF   WORDS.  63 

ivTd<piov  de  rowuTov  ovr  £vptu<; 

ouO^  6  Ttavdafidztup  dfiaupaKTec  ^p6vo<i. 

**0f  those  who  at  Thermopylae  have  fallen,  glorious 
their  fate  and  fair  their  lot.  An  altar  is  their  tomb,  in- 
stead of  tears  undying  memory,  their  requiem  a  hymn  of 
praise.  Such  sepulchre  nor  rust  nor  all-subduing  time 
shaU  dim." 

Contrast  makes  more  dismal  the  gloomy  picture  of 
Catullus :  — 

Soles  occidere  et  redire  possunt : 
Nobis  cum  semel  occidit  brevis  lux 
Nox  est  perpetua  una  dormienda. 


—  V,  Jir-6. 


Suns  will  rise  and  set  again : 
But  for  us,  when  once  doth  wane 
This  poor  pageant's  little  light, 
We  must  sleep  in  endless  night. 

—  Tyrrell. 

The  grouping  of  the  antitheses  ought  to  be  as  close 
in  English  as  in  the  original;  for  example,  Euripides, 
"Alcestis,"  635,  irapeU  aWco  daveiv  |  veo)  jepaio^, 
"permitting  another  to  die,  one  who  was  young, 
though  thou  wert  old  " ;  ^schylus,  "  Seven  against 
Thebes,"  740,  ttovoc  SofMcov  veoi  TraXaiola-c  o-vfi/xcyec'; 
KUKoU,  "  sorrows  of  the  home  mingled  with  woes, 
the  new  with  the  old."  "  To  extirpate  antithesis  from 
literature  altogether  would  be  to  destroy  at  one  stroke 
about  eight  tenths  of  all  the  wit,  ancient  and  modern, 
now  existing  in  the  world"  (author  of  "Lacon''), 


64  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

Collocation.  —  The  placing  together  of  words  of 
similar  sound  or  etymology  must  be  made  as  effective 
in  a  translation  as  it  was  in  the  foreign  text;  for  ex- 
ample,^schylus,  "Agamemnon,"  641, 7ro\\oi>?  8e  ttoX- 
\(ov  i^ayLa6evTa<i  Soficov,  "  many  from  many  homes  "  ; 
Euripides,  "Alcestis,"  799,  6vTa<i  Se  Ovrjrow  dv-qra  /cat 
<f>poveiv  xP^^^i  "for  a  mortal  mortal  thoughts  are  be- 
coming"; Lucretius,  "De  Rerum  Natura,"  i,  272, 
casta  inceste,  "  a  stainless  maid  with  stain  of  blood  " 
(Munro).  Collocation  becomes  very  forceful  in  the 
despairing  words  of  Cassandra :  — 

xai  vuv  6  [idvTi<s  fiavziv  ixTzpd^a<s  k[ik 
aTZTjYay   i?  roidtrds  Oavafft/xooi  zona's. 

Now  he  who  made  me  prophetess,  the  prophet, 
Himself  hath  brought  me  to  these  straits  of  death. 

—  Symonds. 

Chiasmus. — It  is  just  as  much  demanded  of  the 
translator  that  he  should  conserve  such  a  figure  in 
the  style  of  the  original  as  that  the  artist  should 
faithfully  portray  the  alternation  of  shades  in  the 
landscape ;  for  example,  Sophocles,  "  Qj^dipus  Tyran- 
nus,"  1250,  e^  avBpb's  dvSpa  kul  reicv  e/c  tckvcov  reKoi, 
"  from  a  husband  a  husband,  and  children  from  chil- 
dren." 

Hyperbaton.  —  The  bold  hyperbata  of  many  classic 
writers  —  for  example,  Pindar,  tw  fiev  etTrc  <f>lXia  8a>pa 


THE   ORDER    OF    WORDS.  65 

Kv7rpia<:  ay  et  ri  —  e?  ^apty  |  TeXkerai  (01.,  i,  75)  — 
cannot  be  imitated  in  English  without  making  the  sen- 
tence ridiculously  awkward  and  obscure.  Yet  we 
are  obliged  to  confess  that  such  transposition  of 
words  gave  to  the  original  a  power  and  variety  of 
which  we  feel  something  in  our  English  sentence, 
"  He  wanders  earth  around." 

Tmesis.  —  As  is  weH  known,  there  was  no  tmesis  in 
Homer,  since  the  preposition  had  simply  its  historic 
adverbial  force.  Later  writers,  however,  felt  that 
there  was  a  real  "cutting  asunder"  of  words,  and 
through  false  imitations  introduced  this  so-called 
figure  of  etymology.  Ennius'  famous  line,  eere  saxo 
comminuit  brum,  gives  us  a  vocal  picture  of  the  rock 
crushing  the  skull  which  baffles  reproduction.  The 
impression  conveyed  by  tmesis  on  the  mind  of  Greek 
or  Roman  is  similar  to  that  made  upon  us  in  our 
rendering  of  Horace's  quo  me  cunque  rapit  tempestas, 
"  what  way  soever  the  storm  drives  me." 

Alliteration.  —  Since  translation  is  the  effort  to 
reproduce  impressions  corresponding  to  those  of  the 
original,  it  is  tlie  translator's  duty  to  imitate  inten- 
tional alliteration  wherever  the  English  vocabulary 
may  allow  it  without  affectation;  for  example,  -^s- 
chylus,  "  Agamemnon,"  295,  <f>pvKTov  <^<w?,  "  beacon's 
blaze  "  ;  so  in  the  rather  tasteless  lines  of  Ennius :  — 

Septingenti  sunt  paulo  plus  aut  minus  anni 
Augusto  augurio  postquam  incUta  condita  Roma  est. 


66  THE   AIIT   OF   TRANSLATING. 

Years  seven  hundred,  more  or  less,  have  passed 
Since  Rome  with  auguries  august  arose. 

—  Tyrrell. 

Every  one  is  familiar  with  his  notoriously  alliterative 
verse  :  — 

O  Tite  tute  Tati  tibi  tanta  tyranne  tulisti. 

In  fact,  so  great  is  the  influence  of  alliteration  that 
we  ought  not  to  hesitate  to  change  lacrimis  decoret  of 
Cicero's  transmission  so  that  the  epitaph  of  the  poet 
may  read :  — 

Nemo  me  dacrumis  decoret,  nee  funera  fletu 
Faxit. 

Asyndeton.  —  The  lively  succession  of  events 
pictured  in  the  original  by  the  omission  of  the  con- 
junction must  be  reproduced  with  corresponding  ab- 
ruptness ;  for  example,  Le  Bramin  me  dit  un  jour :  je 
voudrais  rCetre  jamais  ne.  Je  lui  demandai  pourquoi. 
11  me  repondit;  j^Studie  depuis  quarante  ans  ;  ce  sont 
quarante  anjiees  de  per  dues ;  j^enseigne  les  autres,  et 
jHgnore  tout  (Voltaire,  "  Histoire  d'un  bon  Bra- 
min "),  "  The  Brahmin  said  to  me  one  day :  '  I  could 
wish  that  I  never  had  been  born ' ;  I  asked  him  why. 
He  answered  me :  '  I  have  studied  for  forty  years ; 
they  are  forty  years  lost ;  I  teach  others  and  I  am 
ignorant  of  everything.'  "  Chassez  les  prejugSs  par  la 
porte^  Us  rentreront  par  la  fenetre  (Frederick  to  Vol- 
taire), "  Drive  prejudices   out  the  door,  they  come 


THE   ORDER   OF   WORDS.  6T 

back  by  the  window."  There  is  no  place  for  super- 
fluous words  in  the  following :  Oaesari  omnia  uno  tem- 
pore erant  agenda  :  vexillum  proponendum,  signum  tuba 
dandum,  ah  opere  revocandi  milites,  acies  instruenda 
milites  cohortandi,  signum  dandum  (Caesar,  Gallic 
War,  ii,  20),  "  Caesar  was  obliged  to  attend  to  eveiy- 
thing  at  the  same  moment;  the  flag  had  to  be  dis- 
played, the  bugle  sounded,  the  soldiers  called  in  from 
work,  the  battle  line  formed,  the  soldiers  encouraged, 
the  signal  given."  Note  Cicero,  "Pro  Roscio  Amer- 
ino,"  60 :  Peroravit  aliquando,  adsedit.  Surrexi  ego. 
Mespirare  visus  est,  quod  non  aUus  potius  diceret. 
Coepi  dicere.  Usque  eo  animadverti,  iudices,  eum  alias 
res  agere,  antequam  Chrysogonum  nominavi;  quern  simul 
atque  attigi,  statim  homo  se  erexit,  mirari  visus  est.  In- 
tellexi  quid  eum  pupugisset.  "  After  a  while  he  wound 
up,  took  his  seat ;  up  rose  your  humble  servant.  He 
seemed  to  take  courage  from  the  fact  it  was  nobody 
else.  I  began  to  speak.  I  noticed,  gentlemen,  that 
he  was  inattentive  all  along  till  I  named  Chrysogo- 
nus ;  but  the  moment  I  touched  on  him,  the  creature 
perked  up  at  once,  seemed  to  be  surprised.  I  knew 
what  the  rub  was"  (Lane).  Beautiful  is  Sappho's 
picture  of  the  rest  of  evening :  — 

<pip£i<i  «Tv,  <pip£<i  alya,  <fipei<i  oltzu  [xaript  izaida. 

Hesper,  thou  bringest  back  again 
All  that  the  gaudy  day- beams  part, 


68  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

The  sheep,  the  goat,  back  to  their  pen. 
The  child  home  to  his  mother's  heart. 

—  Frederick  Tennyson. 


Polysyndeton.  —  When  the  foreign  text  avoids 
swift  transition  through  the  repetition  of  conjunc- 
tions, thus  enabling  the  mind  to  linger  at  will  on 
each  thought  as  a  unity,  the  translator  is  compelled 
to  do  the  same.  Well  is  this  illustrated  in  the 
strong  and  familiar  passage:  TrerrecafjLai  yap  on  ovre 
6dvaT0<i,  ovre  ^corj,  ovre  dyyeXoi,  ovre  dp'X^al,  ovre 
ivearmraf  ovre  /xeWovra,  ovre  SvvdfMei<!j  ovre  vylroyfia, 
ovre  ^ddofij  ovre  rt?  Kria-i^  irepa  Bvp-qcreTat  'qp.d^ 
•^oupicrai  huno  77)9  dydtrrfi  rov  Seov  (Rom.  8 :  38,  39), 
"I  am  persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor 
angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  powers,  nor  height,  nor  depth, 
nor  any  other  creature  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God." 

It  often  happens,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  idiom 
of  the  foreign  tongue  joins  sentences  in  chainlike 
fashion,  while  the  English  rather  avoids  such  connec- 
tion. Cumbersome,  indeed,  would  it  be  to  render 
the  conjunction  in  Sappho's  stanza,  — 

Aiduxe  [lev  a  ffskdvva 
xai  nX-qta8£(s,  fxiaai  M 

tyui  de  fiova  xareudoj. 


THE   ORDER   OF   WORDS. 


69 


The  silver  moon  is  set ; 

The  Pleiades  are  gone ; 

Half  the  long  night  is  spent,  and  yet 

I  lie  alone. 

—  MerivcUe. 


The  moon  hath  left  the  sky : 

Lost  is  the  Pleiad's  light ; 

It  is  midnight 

And  time  slips  by ; 

But  on  my  couch  alone  I  lie. 


—  Symonds. 


70  THE    ART    OF   TRANSLATING. 


FIGURES  OF  SPEECH. 

Do  not  strip  off  any  figurative  ornament  from  the 
style  of  a  foreign  author.  In  avoiding  this  the  skill 
of  a  translator  is  brought  to  its  severest  test.  It  often 
happens  that  a  metaphor  in  one  language  becomes 
unbearable  in  another.  The  translator,  it  is  true, 
may  be  forced  to  change  the  figure,  yet  he  is  faith- 
less to  his  task  if  he  destroys  it  altogether.  The 
metaphor  in  kXvOC  fiev,  apyvporo^',  69  X.pvcn]v  afitpi^' 
^efirjKu^  I  KCWav  re  i^aOerjv  (II.,  A,  37,  38)  is  that  of 
one  bestriding  another  to  shield  him  from  harm, — a 
wonderfully  expressive  figure,  yet  one  which  becomes 
gross  when  brought  over  into  English.  Should  we 
translate  "protect,"  the  strength,  the  boldness,  as 
well  as  the  tenderness  of  the  original  are  gone.  Let 
us  turn  the  tables  and  note  how  the  modern  Greek 
translators  of  Shakespeare  have  struggled  with  one  or 
two  of  our  own  metaphors  :  "  Aye,  there 's  the  rub  " 
Damirale  ^  renders,  'A !  Ihov  6  Tbp8io<;  Seafio^  ;  again, 
"  The  time  is  out  of  joint,  O  cursed  spite  that  ever 

1  Damirale  remarks,  "  There 's  the  rub  "  =  'Uoii  to  np6<TKontia.    "  To 

rub,"  Ae'yei  6  (Wright)  five  Spot  Tc^vixos,  (nifiaivitiv  ttji'  (TvyKftova-iv  r)  to 
e/xirdSioi',  oirep  <rvvavTa  ij  <r<j>aipa  Tpi)(Ov<Ta.,  'T£.voit.i<Tay.fv  on  airoSiSo/JLtv  to  wvevfia 
rov  noiriTov  ipiirivevovrei  6ta  ToO  :  TdpSios  8e<r^id9.     "  To  Tub,"   SayS  Wright, 

"  is  a  technical  term  signifying  the  friction  or  the  resistance  which  a 
rolling  ball  encounters.  I  believe  that  I  render  the  spirit  of  the  poet 
by  translating '  Gh>rdian  knot.' " 


FIGURES   OF   SPEECH.  71 

I  was  bom  to  set  it  right,"  one  attempts,  'O  xpovo^ 
rfj^  68ov  avTOv  efeTretre.  'AWoifjLovov  fiot  on  rfKOov 
et9  rrjv  yrjv  Xva  opCao)  tovtov  ttoXcv  (Pervanoglos) ; 
anotheVj  OiKaipoli^r)p6pa)07}<Tav.  KarrjpafJiePT}  fioipal 
'E7re7r/3(UTO  va  'yevvrjOS)  iyo),  ei?  rd^iv  va  Tois  (f^epo) 
(Damirale)  ;  a  third,  — 

u  xofffio^  Tcdet  ara  arpa^d.     Q\  Aev  d-rsfiei'/  aXXo 
Tzapd  kyu)  vd  yevvrjOu)  ard  ttrca  vd  rov  ^dkio] 

—  Vikelas. 
And  a  fourth,  — 

^E^TjpdpwdTj  V  xacpo^-      T^9  [ioipa<i  izelafia  u)  -oao 
TTtxpov,  iy<b  vd  yevvTjOuJ  vd  tov  diopOwffU). 

—  Polylas. 

There  is  a  beautiful  metaphor,  avasdna,  in  one  of 
the  Hindu  burial  hymns  which  we  spoil  when  we 
translate,  as  is  so  often  done,  "  resting  place."  The 
Sanskrit  word  means  literally  "an  unyoking," — the 
yoke  is  taken  from  the  neck  and  the  weary  cattle  are 
turned  into  the  pasture  land.  So  the  dead  has 
reached  the  "bound  of  life  where  he  lays  his  bur- 
dens down." 

Again,  the  translator  too  frequently  ignores  that 
rhetorical  device  (synecdoche)  which  singles  out  a 
leading  part  or  characteristic  (joars  pro  toto,  materia 
pro  re,  etc.).  It  is  not  required  that  the  specific  part 
mentioned  be  thrust  into  the  translation.  The  usage 
of  our  language  may  have  settled  on  stereotyped 
phrases  differing  from  those  of  the  foreign  tongue. 
It  is  the  effect  of  the  figure,  and  not  the  literal  ren- 


72  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

dering  of  a  word^  that  should  be  the  translator's  pur- 
pose. We  should  not  hesitate,  for  example,  to  render 
m  ^schylus,  "Agamemnon,"  116,  (}>av€VTe<i  iKrap 
fieXddpcov,  "seen  near  the  palace  walls,"  regardless 
as  to  what  part  of  the  building  fieXddpwv  techni- 
cally referred. 

Frequently  a  modest  and  restricted  form  of  state- 
ment (diminution  carries  with  it  far  greater  force 
than  a  positive,  bold  expression  of  fact.  The  trans- 
lator should  be  very  careful  to  bring  this  over  into 
English;  for  example,  Pindar,  01.,  i,  53,  uKepSeia 
XeXoyx^ev  daixiva  KUKajopovi.  "  Little  gain  comes  to 
those  who  tell  bad  tales."  When  cause  is  expressed 
in  the  guise  of  a  condition,  the  English  sentence 
should  be  true  to  the  original ;  for  example,  II.,  A. 
39—42,  et  TTore  tol  'x^apievT  iirl  vrjov  epeyjra,  |  —  ria-eiav 
Aavaol  ifia  hoLKpva  aolcri  ^eXecrcriv.  "  If  I  have 
roofed  for  thee  a  pleasing  shrine  —  may  the  Danai 
atone  for  my  tears  by  thy  shafts."  Here  the  reason 
for  the  answer  to  the  prayer  is  shifted  to  the  respon- 
sibility of  the  god.  It  is  as  if  the  old  priest  had 
said,  "Look  over  the  past,  Apollo;  see  if  I  have 
been  faithful  in  my  office."  Apollo  draws  the  con- 
clusion. Such  rhetorical  device  makes  the  hearer  do 
his  own  reasoning.  How  much  more  emphatic  than 
if  Chryses  had  said,  "  Since  I  have  roofed  a  shrine 
for  thee,  thou  must  hear  my  prayer."  So  in  Latin, 
the  translator  should  avoid  rendering  si  qnidem  by  a 
causal   conjunction.     The    condition    "  if    in    fact " 


FIGURES   OF   SPEECH.  73 

shows  that  cause  was  clearly  in  the  mind  of  the 
writer,  but  the  responsibility  of  the  conclusion  is  put 
upon  the  reader. 

Often  a  word  takes  its  coloring  from  the  context. 
Exactness  requires  that  the  English  word  be  in  itself 
equally  colorless.  It  is  the  same  principle  that  re- 
quires the  painter  to  give  to  objects,  themselves  clear 
and  colorless  like  the  surface  of  a  lake  for  example, 
the  light  and  shadows  imparted  by  their  environment. 
In  Euripides,  "  Alcestis,"  771,  772,  KUKciyv  yap  fivpicov 
ippvero,  |  6p<ya<i  /xaXdaa-ovcr^  avhp6<i,  the  Greek  opyd^ 
does  not  mean  "  anger  "  ;  such  a  notion  enters  it  only 
by  association.  So  oui*  English  temper  takes  its 
shade  of  meaning  from  the  surrounding  thought. 
Translate :  "  She  rescued  me  from  a  thousand  His  by 
softening  her  lord's  temper."  It  is  true  that  words, 
like  individuals,  can  receive  a  character,  more  or  less 
fixed,  from  the  company  they  keep. 

A  figurative  meaning  often  displaces  the  primitive 
signification.  As  Cauer  remarks  :  "  A  frequent  meta- 
phorical expression  loses  its  figure.  This  process  is 
like  the  transition  from  the  crude  metal  to  the 
stamped  bars,  from  them  to  the  stamped  coin,  and 
finally  to  the  paper  currency.  The  ancients  were 
richer  in  concrete,  but  poorer  in  abstract,  expres- 
sions than  we  are ;  or,  to  put  it  better,  there  was  in 
their  abstract  ideas  a  concrete  element  more  strongly 
felt  than  in  ours."  * 

1  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  pp.  31,  32. 


74  THE   ART    OF    TRANSLATING. 

The  taking  of  words  from  foreign  languages  into  our 
vocabulary  has  helped  to  make  the  English  abstract. 
For  example,  comprehend  carries  to  the  mind,  indif- 
ferent to  its  etymology,  simply  the  abstract  idea, 
while  the  Anglo-Saxon  grasp  forces  its  metaphor  upon 
us.  In  Latin  and  Greek,  as  well  as  German,  the  words 
are  formed  from  native  roots,  and  consequently  carry 
on  their  face  the  origin  of  the  metaphor ;  i  for  ex- 
ample, German  antheil  as  contrasted  with  English 
sympathy.  The  effort  of  translation  being  to  make 
the  same  impression  upon  the  English  as  was  made 
upon  the  native  mind,  a  careful  choice  of  words  of 
Anglo-Saxon  origin  will  often  preserve  the  figure  with 
the  clearness  of  the  original.^  For  example,  rogo 
atque  oro  te  eolligas  virumque  praebeas  (Cicero,  Fam., 
5,  18,  1),  "I  beg  and  entreat  you,  pull  yourself  to- 
gether and  quit  you  like  a  man  "  (Lane). 

The  preposition  in  Greek  and  Latin  frequently 
holds  within  itself  a  figurative  meaning,  wliich  we 
cannot  bring  out  except  by  using  a  much  fuller  ex- 
pression. For  example,  e/c  davdrov  should  not  be 
rendered  "  from  death,"  but  "  out  of  the  grasp  of 
death."  So  Cauer  suggests  that  we  can  easily  pre- 
serve the  figure  in  Vergil's  smJ  node  silenti  by  trans- 
lating "  under  the  mantle  of  the  silent  night "  (unter 

1  Cf.  Thomas,  Zur  Historlschen  Entwickelung  der  Metapher  im 
Griechischen,  Erlangen,  1891. 

2  The  authorized  translation  of  the  Bible  contains  the  largest  per 
cent,  of  Saxon  words,  the  estimate  being  that  only  about  one  third  of 
its  vocabulary  is  deriTCd  from  other  languages. 


FIGURES   OF   SPEECH.  7*5 

dem  Mantel  der  schweigenden  Nachf)  ;  also  the  figure 
in  mb  casu  (^potea  hoc  sub  easu  ducere  %omno»?  Ver- 
gil, ^neid,  iv,  560)  by  rendering,  "Canst  thou  sleep 
in  peace  while  this  fate  hangs  over  thee?  "  (^Kanst  du 
ruhig  schlafen^  wdhrend  dieses  Schicksal  iiber  dir 
schwebtPy 

"  In  the  course  of  time,"  says  Cauer,  "  it  must 
often  result  that  individual  expressions  always  occur 
in  definite  relation,  and  by  association  and  use  take 
into  themselves  an  idea  which  was  foreign  to  them. 
So  f acinus  became  (mis) deed,  potestas  became  (offi- 
cial) power.  How  often  %a)/3a  or  j^eip  is  omitted ! 
For  he^id  we  have  a  correspondingly  short  (English) 
expression,  the  right;  but  we  are  forced  to  render 
afi(f)0T€p7}aiv  '  with  both  hands.' 

"  The  greater  maturity  of  our  modern  thought  in 
the  province  of  abstract  nouns  often  makes  our  (Eng- 
lish) expression  shorter  than  the  foreign ;  for  ex- 
ample, de  rebus  bonis  et  malis  (Tuscul.,  v,  4,  10), 
♦  concerning  good  and  bad ' ;  quae  tamen  omnia  dul- 
ciora  jiunt  et  moribus  bonis  et  artibus  (Cato  Maior, 
xviii,  65),  '  through  character  and  culture.'  On  the 
other  hand,  such  abstract  substantives  as  satietates 
(Lselius,  xix,  67),  'moments  of  satiety,'  and  excel- 
lentiae  (69),  '  prominent  personal  characteristics,' 
require  in  (English)  the  circumlocutions  given 
above."  ^ 

1  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  pp.  70-73. 


76  THE   ABT   OF   TRANSLATING. 


THE   GREEK  PARTICLES. 

Just  a  few  hints  for  the  rendering  of  GreeK  par- 
ticles will  not  be  out  of  place.  In  this  the  translator 
has  a  task  as  delicate  as  that  of  the  artist  in  his  en- 
deavor to  reproduce  the  exact  light  and  shade  in  the 
scene  before  him.  In  no  case  should  he  think  of  the 
literal  meaning  of  the  particle.  The  first  and  only 
question  which  the  translator  must  ask  is,  "  What 
coloring  does  it  give  to  the  idea  ?  "  Then,  by  any 
word  or  words  in  his  power,  he  should  endeavor  to 
transfuse  this  coloring  into  his  English  sentence. 

I  translate  in  abridged  form  the  comments  of 
Cauer :  —  i 

"  The  particles  have  nothing  but  empty  meaning. 
Into  them  is  forced  a  fullness  of  ideas  wliich  accom- 
pany the  thoughts  of  the  speaker,  and  which  form  in 
his  mind  the  framework  for  his  successive  sentences. 
These  from  time  to  time  show  their  influence  in  the 
significant  gesture  or  in  a  pair  of  correlated  expres- 
sions. Of  special  importance  are  those  little  words 
which  serve  to  join  sentences.  A  well  chosen  con- 
junction achieves  something  similar  to  that  which  a 

1  Cauer  appropriately  selects  as  the  superscription  of  his  chapter 
"  Partikeln"  the  words  of  Schiller:  "  Im  kleinsten  Punkte  die  hOchste 
Kraft." 


THE   GREEK   PARTICLES.  77 

fortunate  turn  of  the  passage  achieves  on  a  higher 
scale ;  in  both  there  enters  an  inner  relation  of  pre- 
ceding and  following  thoughts ;  both  are  disjunctive, 
while  at  the  same  time  they  connect;  they  are  the 
joints  in  the  body  of  the  language. 

"  It  often  happens  that  a  particle  cannot  be  trans- 
lated except  by  a  word  which  is  much  stronger  than 
the  original.  When  this  is  so,  we  had  better  omit  it 
entirely  and  preserve  the  force  by  the  tone  of  the 
voice.  Such  is  frequently  the  case  in  regard  to  the 
Greek  76, 

"  Of  the  Homeric  expletives,  apa  is  especially  un- 
translatable by  any  single  word.  It  expresses  a  har- 
mony between  thought  and  fact,  so  that  either  the 
result  corresponds  to  one's  expectations  or,  on  the 
contrary,  the  thought  is  made  to  fit  the  reality. 
These  ideas  are  expressed  in  our  two  short  sentences, 
•  As  one  might  think,'  '  As  one  must  admit.' 

"  How  can  the  same  sentence  contain  antithesis 
and  confirmation  ?  Yet  how  often  we  meet  aWd  — 
yap;  for  example,  Od.,  k.  202,  aW'  ov  yap  rt?  irpij^K 
eyiyvero  fivpo/xevoLo-iv.  In  this  passage  it  requires  no 
imagination  to  hear  and  see  Odysseus  as  he  pauses 
after  the  '  but '  and  with  resignation  shrugs  his  shoul- 
ders or  raises  his  hands,  indicating  with  half  sad,  half 
scornful  look,  that  the  lamentation  did  not  last  long, 
for  it  was  no  use  for  them  to  weep.  As  we  read,  we 
can  feel  this  force,  although  we  mar  the  sentence  if 
we  attempt  to  express  it  in  words.     As  in  the  case 


78  THE   ART   OF   TRANSLATING. 

of  the  strongly  adversative  aX\d^  so  address  (for 
example,  'ATpetSrj,  ^.  156  ;  ^^fite,  a.  337  ;  &  <f)iXoi, 
K.  174)  is  often  attended  by  a  gesture,  which  is  con- 
firmed in  what  follows. 

"  Of  another  class  are  those  cases  in  which  the 
sentence  with  f^dp  is  inserted  as  a  parenthesis;  for 
example,  a)OC  —  ov  <ydp  cr(f)LV  icfjacvero  KepBiov  elvai,  | 
fiaieaOai,  Trporepo)  —  rol  fiev  irdXiv  avTi<i  e^aivov.  Here 
there  is  clearly  before  the  mind  of  the  narrator  when 
he  begins  with  aXXd  the  statement  he  is  going  to 
make,  that  is,  toI  fiev  irdXiv  avri^  efiatvov,  but  he 
breaks  off  the  sentence  in  order  to  confirm  it. 

"  Jacob  Wackernagel  ^  made  the  discovery  that  the 
enclitics  and  other  words  of  light  signification  (av, 
dpa,  8e,  fM€v,  ovv,  rolvvv^  tend  to  occupy  the  second 
place  in  the  sentence.  Although  'irep  and  ye  ought 
generally  to  follow  the  emphatic  word,  yet  they  come 
under  this  influence  ;  for  example,  in  II.,  F.  3,  Tjvre  irep 
KXayyr)  yepdvcov  ireXet  ovpavodi  irpo,  the  nrep  goes,  not 
with  the  preceding  t)vt€  nor  the  following  KXayy^,  but 
with  yepdvcov.  The  position  of  ye  presents  greater 
difficulty  where  'at  least,'  'at  any  rate,'  belongs  to 
the  whole  thought.  Oftentimes  it  is  convenient  for 
the  poet  to  join  the  ye  to  a  single  word  which  may 
serve  for  its  natural  support;  for  example,  II.,  H. 
91,  92,  fivOov,  ov  ov  Kev  avr\p  ye  Sia  arofia  TrdfiTrav 
dyoiTO,  I  09    Tt9    eirCcTTaLTO    yen    <\>pecnv    dpria    ^d^eiv. 

1  Jacob  Wackernagel,  Ueber  ein  Gesetz  der  Indo-germanischen 
Wortstellung,  Indogerm.  Forschungen,  i  (1891-92),  pp.  333  fg.). 


THE  GREEK   PARTICLES.  79 

The  meaning  is  '  at  least  if  he  —  understood ' ; 
formally,  however,  76  is  joined  to  the  logically  unem- 
phatic  avrip} 

"  Where  it  is  impossible  to  understand  apa^  ye,  pv 
in  Homer,  we  can  suppose  that  they  were  inserted  by 
later  bards  who  recited  the  epic  speech  as  a  half  for- 
eign dialect  and  carelessly  used  monosyllabic  particles 
to  fill  out  the  meter,  as  text  critics  in  ancient  and 
modern  times  are  fond  of  doing.  The  essentially 
meaningless  combination  dv  k€v  furnishes  an  abundant 
example  of  this."  2 


II  refer  the  reader  to  Gloeckner's  Homerische  Partikein,  which, 
when  completed,  will  certainly  prove  a  valuable  contribution. 

2  Cauer,  Die  Kunst  des  Uebersetzens,  pp.  53-68.  For  a  conven- 
ient grouping  and  discussion  of  the  Greek  particles,  cf.  Brugmann's 
Griechische  Grammatik  (1900),  pp.  525-550,  published  in  Iwan 
Miiller's  Handbuch  der  klassischen  Altertumswissenshaft;  also 
Riemann  et  Goelzer,  Grammaire  compar6e  du  Grec  et  du  Latin, 
Syntaxe  (1897),  pp.  341  fg.  Among  the  many  works  of  a  more  special 
nature  may  be  mentioned  Baumlein,  Untersuchungen  liber  griech. 
Partikein ;  Hiibner,  Grundr.  griech.  Synt. ;  Eberling,  Lexicon  Homeri- 
cum;  Monro,  Homeric  Grammar;  Nagelsbach,  Anmerkungen  aur 
Ilias;  Mutzbauer,  Der  homerische  Gebrauch  dor  Partikel  li^v;  Van 
Leeuwen,  De  particularum  xev  et  iv  apud  Homerum  usu;  Delbriich, 
Vergliechende  Syntax  der  indo-germanischen  Spracheo  (pp.  497  fg.). 


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